Woman sent mother photo of cattle before she was ‘trampled to death’, inquest hears

A woman sent her mother a picture of cattle in a field moments before she was trampled to death by a cow, an inquest has heard.

Rebekah Morris, known as Becki, was killed while walking her dog, a chihuahua called Zero, in Littlethorpe, Leicestershire, on the evening of 9 July 2022.

The jury inquest, which began at Leicester coroner’s court on Monday, heard the 29-year-old had texted her mother just before 9pm, sending the picture, which showed a number of the animals in the near distance, along with the word “cowz”.

The inquest was told Morris had been texting during the walk but stopped responding to messages, which prompted her parents to search for her. The image she had sent to her mother led her parents to the field, where they found her lying injured.

Morris went into cardiac arrest, and despite efforts by paramedics, as well as a farmer, Guy Hutton, and other residents who had given her CPR before the emergency services arrived, she was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.21pm.

The forensic pathologist Dr Michael Biggs, who carried out a postmortem examination, told the jury her injuries were “consistent with hoof marks from a trampling incident”. He told the court Morris had sustained blunt-force traumatic injuries and abrasions to her upper chest and left shoulder. His examination found “hoof prints” on her chest and shoulder as well as a serious injury to her liver.

“There was extensive damage to the liver, which led to severe internal bleeding. That’s the main reason why Becki died,” he said.

He added that the number of injuries was “not so large” that he believed the whole herd had been involved, and instead thought it was a “relatively brief incident involving one cow”.

Giving evidence at the hearing, a paramedic who was called to the scene said initial reports suggested a woman had been attacked or strangled.

Biggs said there was “enough of a suspicion” to do a forensic postmortem examination to “rule out” the involvement of a person.

“There were no other injuries to suggest the involvement of another person,” he said. “All injuries were consistent with a livestock trampling incident. The type and location of the injuries in this case, for me, were indicative of something else, such as a large, heavy creature – such as a cow.”

There were traces of alcohol and prescribed medications in Morris’s blood at the time but these were “not a dangerous combination”, Biggs told the inquest. He said the alcohol was of a “social level” and any impact on her would have been mild.

Before the inquest, the woman’s father, David Morris, said his daughter was “the sort of person that lit up the room when she walked into it”. “She was a wonderful, lovely girl,” he added. “She was kind, had compassion, and always had a listening ear for anyone.”

The inquest, which is expected to last five days, continues at Leicester town hall.