Man killed by tiger at Yorkshire zoo had bouts of psychosis, inquest hears
William Chapman was mauled to death by the animal at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster on Saturday, after climbing into its enclosure. Picture: PA Media.
A man who was killed by a tiger at a South Yorkshire zoo had bouts of psychosis, his family told the opening of an inquest, as they expressed concerns about his contact with mental health services before his death.
William Chapman was mauled to death by the animal at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster on Saturday, after climbing into its enclosure.
The 24-year-old had been diagnosed with schizophrenia but was “highly functioning and independent with no care requirements”, the hearing at Doncaster coroner’s court heard.
He was under the care of local mental health services, however, the coroner’s officer Caitlin Brookes said his family had expressed “a number of concerns” in relation to his contact with them. Brookes said the Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS foundation trust had launched an investigation following Chapman’s death.
The inquest heard Chapman was a self-employed online trader who was living in Doncaster at the time of his death. An initial postmortem examination found that he had died from multiple traumatic injuries after his encounter with the tiger.
The inquest heard he attended Yorkshire Wildlife Park on 10 October, and at about 1.30pm, climbed over two fences and entered the enclosure housing the 200kg male Siberian tiger named Altai.
Brookes said: “He was approached by the tiger and the ensuing physical contact between the tiger and Mr Chapman led to him sustaining multiple traumatic injuries which rapidly led to his death.” Park staff secured the tiger, and paramedics attended but confirmed Chapman’s death at the scene. The senior coroner, Nicola Mundy, said her office was awaiting a more substantial report as to the extent of Chapman’s injuries.
The inquest heard Chapman’s stepfather had travelled to the mortuary to identify him on 13 October. The inquest heard his full name was William Harry Bruce Chapman and that he was born in 2002 in Chichester.
Mundy said Chapman’s family “were finding things incredibly difficult” and had decided not to attend the hearing, but would be updated afterwards by her staff.
His family spoke out on Wednesday after the US president, Donald Trump, shared a video of the attack on Tuesday to his 13 million followers on Truth Social. He followed this with an AI-generated video of himself play fighting with the tiger, which ends with him and the tiger hugging.
Chapman’s family said online footage being shared was “deeply offensive” and causing them “severe distress”.
They also shared a tribute to him, writing: “William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back. Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication.”
As a child, Chapman appeared in ITV’s 2009 comedy drama May Contain Nuts and in BBC Learning’s True Stories series, according to IMDb. He previously attended Jackie Palmer stage school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, which paid tribute on Facebook and posted a picture of Chapman as a child student.
City of Doncaster Council, which is responsible for licensing the park, is carrying out a health and safety investigation and said it would share the outcome with the coroner, the hearing was told.
Wildlife and zoo experts previously told the Guardian it was unlikely Yorkshire Wildlife Park could have done anything to prevent the death. The park said staff were receiving specialist support and that Altai, a member of an endangered species, would not be euthanised.
A full inquest will be held on 18 March next year.
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