A mother died after being bitten by one of her two dogs during a brief fight between the pets over food, an inquest has heard. Michelle Hempstead was caught in the crossfire when her larger dog snapped at her smaller pet while she was feeding them chicken nuggets at her flat in Southend, Essex.
The 34-year-old had been throwing chicken nuggets to her Pomeranian called Pom and a mastiff rottweiler cross called Trigg on July 29 last year. The larger dog Trigg caught her upper left arm and severed an artery when snapping at the smaller dog Pom.
Ms Hempstead was taken to hospital but died the next day at the Royal London Hospital following traumatic blood loss which led to multiple organ failure. Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes said Pom "had a go at Trigg" and Trigg "did go to bite him or snap at him, and this is a big dog with big jaws".
Partner describes freak accident
Her then partner Samuel West told Monday's hearing that Ms Hempstead had bought McDonald's food and "had her box of, I think, 20 nuggets". He said 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".
Mr West described how as Pom went to get a nugget "Trigg's done this thing where he chomps his mouth". He said: "It looked like to me it wasn't a grab. He just went to do a chomping thing and caught her under the arm."
He described the incident as an "absolute freak accident" and said Trigg "didn't have a bad bone in his body". The dog never showed his teeth and would sleep on Ms Hempstead's bed, while Ms Hempstead, who worked at Premier Inn, had previously fed Trigg food from her mouth.
Coroner rules accidental death
Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes recorded a conclusion of accidental death, saying: "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."
The coroner accepted that both dogs were "quite well behaved" and described Trigg as "an otherwise gentle giant". He noted that Pom "sometimes used to think he was in charge of the big dog".
Recent family tragedy
The coroner revealed an additional tragedy, saying: "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 confirmed that two dogs were seized from the address as Ms Hempstead was their sole owner. Both dogs were "disclaimed for destruction" and subsequently euthanised according to Metropolitan Police guidance.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
