A man who was killed by a tiger at a South Yorkshire zoo had suffered bouts of psychosis, his family told an inquest opening, as they expressed concerns about his contact with mental health services before his death.
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they → kill → death
William Chapman was mauled to death by the animal at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster on Saturday, after climbing into its enclosure.
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Chapman → maul → 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.
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hearing → diagnose → court
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.
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family → say → them
Brookes said the Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS foundation trust had launched an investigation following Chapman’s death.
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trust → say → death
The inquest heard Chapman was a self-employed online trader who was living in Doncaster at the time of his death.
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who → hear → death
An initial postmortem examination found that he had died from multiple traumatic injuries after his encounter with the tiger.
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he → find → 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.
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he → hear → tiger
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.”
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which → say → death
Park staff secured the tiger, and paramedics attended but confirmed Chapman’s death at the scene.
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paramedics → secure → scene
The senior coroner, Nicola Mundy, said her office was awaiting a more substantial report as to the extent of Chapman’s injuries.
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office → say → injuries
The inquest heard Chapman’s stepfather had travelled to the mortuary to identify him on 13 October.
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stepfather → hear → October
The inquest heard his full name was William Harry Bruce Chapman and that he was born in 2002 in Chichester.
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he → hear → 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.
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things → say → 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.
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president → speak → Social
He followed this with an AI-generated video of himself play fighting with the tiger, which ends with him and the tiger hugging.
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him → follow → tiger
Chapman’s family said online footage being shared was “deeply offensive” and causing them “severe distress”.
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footage → say → 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.
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William → share → them
Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication.
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William → suffer → 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.
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Chapman → appear → 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.
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which → attend → 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.
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hearing → license → coroner
Wildlife and zoo experts previously told the Guardian it was unlikely Yorkshire Wildlife Park could have done anything to prevent the death.
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Park → tell → death
The park said staff were receiving specialist support and that Altai, a member of an endangered species, would not be euthanised.
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Altai → say → species
A full inquest will be held on 18 March next year.
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inquest → hold → March
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