A mother was mauled to death by her pet rottweiler as it fought her Pomeranian over McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
Michelle Hempstead, 34, was feeding the pair at her flat on July 29, 2024 when the larger dog, Trigg, caught her upper left arm and an artery, while snapping at the smaller dog, Pom, a hearing in Chelmsford was told on Monday.
Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes said Pom ‘had a go at Trigg’ during the attack in Southend, Essex and Trigg ‘did go to bite him or snap at him, and this is a big dog with big jaws’.
He said he accepted Pom and Trigg were ‘quite well behaved’ and Trigg was ‘an otherwise gentle giant’.
Bystanders rushed to give Ms Hempstead first aid after hearing her screams. She was then taken to hospital but died the next day at the Royal London Hospital following traumatic blood loss which led to multiple organ failure.
Her then partner, Samuel West, told the hearing that Ms Hempstead had bought McDonald’s food and ‘had her box of, I think, 20 nuggets’.
‘She liked to throw them up in the air and the little one, Pom, was going for the big one, not aggressively but he used to growl and snap when he wanted to get the nugget first,’ he said.
He said that as Pom went to get a nugget ‘Trigg’s done this thing where he chomps his mouth’.
Michelle Hempstead, pictured, was mauled to death by her pet rottweiler as it fought her Pomeranian over McDonald’s chicken nuggets
‘It looked like to me it wasn’t a grab,’ said Mr West. ‘He just went to do a chomping thing and caught her under the arm.’
He described it as an ‘absolute freak accident’.
Mr West said Trigg ‘didn’t have a bad bone in his body’, never showed his teeth and would sleep on Ms Hempstead’s bed.
He said Ms Hempstead, who worked at Premier Inn, had previously fed Trigg food from her mouth.
Mr West added that Pom ‘sometimes used to think he was in charge of the big dog’.
In comments captured on a police bodycam and described to the inquest, Mr West said Ms Hempstead ‘threw the nugget up in the air – she was just caught in the crossfire’.
Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes, recording a conclusion of accidental death, said: ‘Michelle Hempstead died of the consequences of traumatic blood loss following a single bite from her large dog in her home which severed an artery.
‘The bite was not malicious and occurred when she was caught during a brief fight between her two dogs over food.’
She managed to escape and climbed over the balcony rail of her ground floor flat in Retort Close, pictured
He continued: ‘The double tragedy about this is that she (Ms Hempstead) and the rest of her family suffered a terrible bereavement only a few weeks beforehand, of the death of her daughter.
‘She was still reeling from that.’
Police previously said two dogs were seized from the address, the victim was their sole owner and both dogs had been ‘disclaimed for destruction’.
According to guidance from the Metropolitan Police, dogs can be euthanised if they are disclaimed by the owner, which happened in this case as Ms Hempstead was the sole owner.
Neighbours described how Ms Hempstead had clambered over the railing of her balcony to escape, before collapsing near a play area.
Last year it emerged that Ms Hempstead’s daughter died just weeks earlier on June 4.
In an online appeal to help pay for her funeral and support her children, Ms Hempstead’s friend Liah Smith said it was the second time that tragedy had struck the family.
Recalling the horrific scene, a neighbour said: ‘I was at home with my partner when we heard screaming.
‘He went to help and I called an ambulance. By the time we had got down to her, she had run across to near the play area and had collapsed.
‘She was unconscious and had a really nasty wound to the top of her arm. It was evidently a dog bite.
‘I think she had climbed out over her balcony. I came out to help. She had run screaming and made it against a wall.’
The neighbour added Ms Hempstead had a partner and was devoted to her dogs.
‘She was quite friendly. We had had a puppy last year and she would stop us to see how he was getting on,’ she said.
‘I was not aware of any problems with her dogs. There was a boy aged around 14 or 15 who would come to her flat to walk the big dog.
‘We saw both dogs being taken out early in the morning and they were both walking happily on a lead.’
A post-mortem examination found the axillary artery – the main artery in the arm – had been severed, causing severe blood loss and multiple organ failure.
Liah Smith, Michelle’s friend of ten years, paid tribute to her as ‘fun no matter the situation’.
Ms Smith said in a GoFundMe set up in her memory: ‘Michelle’s first born and only daughter (whose name I won’t disclose to respect the family’s privacy) slipped away from us on June 4 and was laid to rest peacefully on July 2.
‘This passing was an awfully tragic time for Michelle and her family to endure. For something so harrowing to go through, they have not been able to reach a place of peace, and within the space of five weeks the family have had to deal with the shocking passing of Michelle too. Our hearts are broken.’
Paying tribute to her ‘fun, bubbly and ‘selfless’ friend who was ‘made of steel, just an incredibly strong woman who everyone adored’, Ms Smith added: ‘She always went above and beyond for people.
‘Whether it was stray cars or rough sleepers, Michelle would always get them water, always do something and always recognise people.
‘Even if all she had on her was £2 for the bus, she would have given it away. Her attitude was so carefree and she as such a fun person, no matter the situation and even when times were tough.
‘She was such a positive person. She was so bubbly all the time to the point where you think ‘You can’t be like that all day.’
Describing the loss of her friend, who had two jobs to give her kids ‘what they needed’, she added: ‘It was too much. There was panic and we had no idea what was going to happen.
‘It is so hard. I can’t imagine how hard it was for her. I can’t imagine her headspace and I cannot stop thinking about how she must have felt at the time.’
