'Fearless' toddler mauled by dogs in Worcestershire, inquest told
Lawson Bond dies days after the attack at his home near Evesham, the same place as where his nan ran an unlicensed dog training and breeding business.
A "fearless" two-year-old boy was mauled by a rottweiler at the property where he lived with his dog breeder grandmother after opening a gate into a field where the animals were playing, an inquest has heard.
Lawson Bond suffered serious neck injuries and went into cardiac arrest when he was attacked at the cottage in Egdon, Worcestershire, where he lived with his parents Reiss Bond and Sarah Booth and his grandmother Maria Bond, on March 28 2022 and later died in hospital.
An inquest into the toddler's death at Worcestershire Coroners' Court on Monday heard Lawson was found lying injured in a field next to the family home which was used as a place to exercise the dogs Mrs Bond kept in kennels at the property.
The grandmother had eight adult dogs on the property at the time and had bred and sold puppies for around 30 years, although she did not have a licence to do so.
The inquest heard Mrs Bond was cleaning out the kennels of three female dogs and had let the trio into the adjoining field that she rented so they could exercise and play while she worked on their cages.
She told senior coroner for Worcestershire David Reid that she had gone back inside the cottage briefly to go to the toilet and also watched a video with son Reiss on his phone and when she came back out, she noticed the wooden gate, which was usually secured with a metal chain and linked the family's back garden with the dog kennels, was open and Lawson was not there.
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 laying 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."
Mrs Bond and her son, who was inside the cottage washing up at the time but came outside when he heard a scream, then put the toddler in their van and started to drive him to Worcestershire Royal Hospital at around 11.10am.
While they were on the way, they were told to attempt CPR so they pulled the van over in Wildwood Drive, where they were met by paramedics who 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, investigating officer, 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.
"There are two possibilities, one being that Lawson opened the gate, or that Mrs Bond left the gate unsecured when she went inside to use the toilet.
"Her clear recollection was that she secured the gate and I have no reason to doubt that. It seems that Lawson did manage to climb the gate and lift the chain over the gate post."
The coroner recorded Lawson's death as misadventure and gave his condolences to his family, saying: "None of us in this room can imagine what the past year has been like for you."
Speaking about his son at the inquest, a tearful Mr Bond said Lawson was an "energetic" child and "nothing would faze him".
He said: "He couldn't wait to get up in the morning. Everything I did, he wanted to do as well.
"He was fearless and would want to be out and doing what I was doing, whether that was cleaning the kennels or hoovering.
"The three dogs, they used to sit there and lick his face. He did have contact with all the dogs but I would never, ever leave him alone with them, not that I ever had that worry about them."