Lawson Bond’s gran had eight adult dogs at the property which the inquest heard were healthy, calm and well-behaved
A ‘fearless’ toddler was mauled by a Rottweiler owned by his dogs breeder grandmother after opening a gate into a field where they were playing, an inquest has heard.
Two-year-old Lawson Bond died after being attacked at beside the cottage where he lived with his family in Egdon, Worcestershire, on March 28, 2022.
His grandmother, Maria Bond, who had eight adult dogs at the property and had bred and sold puppies for around 30 years, had let three of them into an adjoining field to exercise while she cleaned out their kennels at around 11am.
She told senior coroner David Reid that she had briefly gone back inside the cottage and come out to find the wooden gate, usually chained shut, hanging open with no sign of Lawson.
She said: ‘At first, I thought “that little bugger has gone into the field”, so I shouted his name, and I went up to get him back in.
‘He was lying face down and I couldn’t see any of the dogs. I panicked, I grabbed him, picked him up and screamed.
‘I ran through the gate and put him down on the lawn – I didn’t know what to do. I called 999 but I was hysterical.’
Worcestershire Coroners’ Court was told Lawson’s dad Reiss was inside the cottage washing up and ran out when he heard the screaming.
He picked his son up, put him in the back of their van and started driving towards Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
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While en route the 999 operator told them to attempt CPR on the youngster, so they pulled over and desperately gave him chest compressions until paramedics met them and took over.
In a statement, West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedic Steve Grant said when they arrived at the scene, they saw Mr Bond doing CPR on the severely injured little boy.
After initially being taken to Worcestershire Royal for emergency surgery, Lawson was transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s paediatrics intensive care unit.
Consultant Dr Sanjay Revanna said in a statement that Lawson had been in cardiac arrest for around 30 minutes, which had resulted in swelling of his brain.
Despite surgery to repair his wounds, Lawson suffered seizures and the damage to his brain was getting progressively worse before he died on the morning of March 30, 2022.
A post-mortem examination found that Lawson had multiple serious injuries, including to his head, chest and neck, including a wound to his left internal carotid artery which had been repaired during surgery.
His cause of death was recorded as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a type of brain damage, and laceration to the left internal carotid artery as a result of dog mauling.
The three female dogs, one of which had blood round its face, were still in the field when West Mercia Police officers arrived at the cottage and were removed from the property.
They were euthanised on April 7, 2022.
Detective Constable David Hartley said when he arrived at the cottage at around 6pm the day Lawson was injured, he noticed the fencing surrounding the field and kennels was ‘well-constructed’ and ‘very secure’.
He said: ‘The officers who attended said the dogs were well behaved and no force was needed to get them into the van.’
Niall McMenamin, who deals with licensing at Worcestershire Regulatory Services on behalf of the councils in Worcestershire, including Wychavon District Council, said there was no record on their database of Mrs Bond ever having, or applying for, a licence to breed dogs.
When questioned by the coroner about whether they actively search for unlicensed breeders, Mr McMenamin said, due to staffing levels, the service was intelligence-led and relied on people making complaints or providing information about unlicensed breeders for them to investigate.
Coroner Mr Reid said that while he had no reason to believe Mrs Bond not having a breeding licence contributed to her grandson’s death, he would be writing a Prevention of Future Deaths report to Wychavon District Council because he was concerned they are not being proactive enough in finding ‘unscrupulous’ breeders in their area.
He said: ‘All three dogs were said to be calm and well behaved. There is no evidence that provides any connection between Mrs Bond being unlicensed and Lawson’s death and there is no evidence that the way they were looked after contributed to his death.
‘The impression that their vet had was that they were healthy with no signs of negligence.