Mother of boy, three, mauled to death in dog attack ‘found son face down with blood and marks all over his neck’, court hears

The mother of a three-year-old boy who died in a savage dog attack at a farm after he allegedly wandered into a pen unsupervised has told how she heard ‘screaming’ when a relative found him covered in blood.

Daniel Twigg suffered horrific injuries in the ‘furious and prolonged’ attack at Carr Farm, Rochdale, on May 15, 2022.

His parents Mark Twigg, 43, and Joanne Bedford, 37, are on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of Daniel’s manslaughter.

The prosecution allege their negligence meant the toddler was ‘alone and unsupervised’ when he entered a yard where two large, ‘dangerous’ and ‘powerful’ 50kg guard dogs were kept.

Although the dogs – a Cane Corsa called Sid and Tiny, a Boerboel type dog – belonged to farm owner Matthew Brown, it’s alleged the couple were looking after them at the time and should have know the risks to Daniel.

They had also ignored warnings from the RSPCA that the animals were a danger, it’s claimed.

On the day of the attack, Twigg had left for work in the morning while Bedford had remained at their rented farmhouse.

Bedford told the jury that she’d gone upstairs after Daniel had taken a bath to fetch him a pair of shorts.

Three-year-old Daniel Twigg died after being mauled by two ‘dangerous’ and ‘powerful’ guard dogs during a ‘furious and prolonged’ attack

Daniel’s parents Mark Twigg, 43, (left) and Joanne Bedford, 37, (right) are on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of their son’s manslaughter

Police at the scene at the farm in Milnrow, Rochdale on May 16, 2025, the day after the incident in which Daniel was killed

She’d asked a young relative to ‘keep an eye’ on him downstairs, she said.

Bedford, who was then seven-months pregnant, said she’d also needed to go the toilet while upstairs because she was constipated and before she could get the shorts she heard the relative ‘screaming’.

The relative then told her: ‘Daniel is in the dog pen. He’s face down and there’s blood everywhere.’

Bedford said she went downstairs ‘as fast as she could’ but it was difficult due to her pregnancy.

She said she went into the pen and told the dogs to ‘get away’ from Daniel.

Tiny was stood near the shed, she said, while Sid was was stood over the injured toddler and kept moving towards him.

‘I told Sid to get off him and leave him alone and get away from him,’ she told the jury.

Bedford said she found Daniel face down, with ‘blood and marks all over his neck’ and she recalled feeling ‘scared for my little boy’ while trying to keep the dogs away from them both.

The jury heard how Bedford had given conflicting accounts of how long Daniel had been out of her sight and that gates to the dog pen – located to the side of the farmhouse (pictured) – were secured only with a Karabiner clip, rather than a padlock, which could be pressed open

One of the dogs (not canine pictured) involved in the attack was a Cane Corsa who experts believe is ‘likely’ responsible for little Daniel’s death. Pictured: a file photo of a Cane Corsa 

The other guard dog (again, not dog pictured) was a Boerboel type breed, athough it is not know if he participated in the attack. Pictured: a file photo of a Boerboel. a mastiff breed from South Africa 

‘I kept telling them to get in the shed but they wouldn’t listen to me,’ she told the jury, and she’d also asked the relative to put the dogs in the shed.

Bedford then dialled 999 and moved Daniel to a bench where she performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived.

Bedford said she told her neighbour Craig McDonald, who’d arrived at the scene with a knife, to ‘kill’ the dogs because she’d ‘didn’t want them to hurt anyone else’.

The jury were previously told that it’s not known if both dogs were involved in the attack, but Sid was ‘likely’ responsible.

He was shot dead at the scene and a post mortem examination showed that he had not eaten for 12/24 hours while Tiny had been described as ‘dangerous’ and a ‘ticking time bomb’ by a neighbour.

Daniel was taken to hospital but later pronounced dead.

The prosecution allege that he was left alone in the pen for around 20 minutes and his parents were aware he was capable of entering it unsupervised.

The jury have heard how Bedford had given conflicting accounts of how long Daniel had been out of her sight and that gates to the dog pen – located to the side of the farmhouse – were secured only with a Karabiner clip, rather than a padlock, which could be pressed open.

Two police officers at the scene the day after the horrifying dog attack took place

Phone records show Bedford briefly accessed Facebook while Daniel was being attacked but she said she couldn’t recall doing so.

When asked by her barrister Ian Henderson KC why she hadn’t mentioned visiting the toilet during police interviews or in defence documents, she said she was ‘petrified of failing my child’ and ‘scared’ the police would use it against her.

Earlier, she’d told the jury she’d assured visiting RSPCA officers that Daniel wasn’t ‘left alone’ with the dogs and would ‘always be supervised’.

And they had never spoken to her about the gates or locks to the pen, she said.

The jury were told of a text message she sent to Twigg in the weeks prior to the attack when she said she was ‘living in fear’, which she said referred to ‘a build up of events’.

But she admitted wanting to move back to the family home in Blackley, Manchester, and telling a neighbour she was ‘terrorised’ living at the farm because dogs escaped all the time.

Under cross-examination from John Elvidge, KC, she denied telling a paediatrician and a detective that Daniel had previously gone into the pen alone and been ‘told off’.

Bedford said Daniel had only been told not to play with the Karabiner clip and to ‘come away from it’.

Mr Elvidge also pressed her on why she’d not mentioned visiting the toilet in her accounts to police.

Bedford said she’d just wanted to be with Daniel and ‘wasn’t focusing’, had felt ‘fear’ towards police and had suffered PTSD.

Twigg and Bedford, of Radcliffe, Bury, both deny charges of gross negligence manslaughter and being in charge of a dog that caused injury while dangerously out of control. 

The trial continues.