A mother and father have been found guilty of being in charge of a dog that caused injury while dangerously out of control after their three-year-old son died in a savage attack on a farm.
Daniel Twigg suffered horrific injuries in the ‘furious and prolonged’ mauling, after he wandered unsupervised into a pen where two powerful, 50kg guard dogs were kept.
His parents Mark Twigg, 43, and Joanne Bedford, 37, were found guilty by jurors following a three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, after 17.5 hours’ deliberations.
They were both cleared of gross negligence manslaughter.
Bedford wiped away tears in the dock as the verdicts were delivered while Twigg showed no emotion.
Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, the maximum sentence for having a dangerous dog out of control resulting in a death is 14 years’ imprisonment.
Daniel suffered the attack at Carr Farm, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on May 15, 2022
During the trial, Bedford told how she heard ‘screaming’ when a relative found him covered in blood.
The prosecution said his parents’ 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 Corso called Sid and Tiny, a Boerboel type dog – belonged to farm owner Matthew Brown, the couple were looking after them at the time and should have known the risks to Daniel, jurors were told.
Daniel’s parents, of Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, had also ignored warnings from the RSPCA that the animals were a danger, it was claimed.
Furthermore, the jury heard how Rochdale Council Children’s Services staff visited the farm just three days before the attack and expressed concerns, which included signs of ‘neglect’ of Daniel and that he was ‘in danger’ from the dogs.
The pair asserted that Daniel was used to being around dogs on the farm and they didn’t regard them as dangerous or aggressive.
And they denied having responsibility for the dogs at the time of the attack.
Giving evidence, mother-of-three Bedford denied that one RSPCA inspector’s mention of media reports of dogs killing a child was a ‘clear warning’ Daniel was at risk and he could be attacked and killed.
She also claimed she’d offered assurances he wasn’t ‘left alone’ with the dogs and would ‘always be supervised’.
Three-year-old Daniel Twigg died after being mauled by two ‘dangerous’ and ‘powerful’ guard dogs during a ‘furious and prolonged’ attack
On the day of the attack, Twigg had left for work as an odd job man in the morning while Bedford had remained at their rented farmhouse.
Bedford told the jury that she went upstairs after giving Daniel a bath, to fetch him a pair of shorts.
She had 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.’
Mark Twigg, 43, and Joanne Bedford, 37, arrive at Manchester Crown Court, left; police at the scene at the farm in Milnrow, Rochdale on May 16, 2025, the day after Daniel Twigg was killed
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 standing over the horrifically 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, although it is not known 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 told jurors he was left alone in the pen for around 20 minutes and his parents were aware he was capable of entering it unsupervised.
The court heard how Bedford gave 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 showed 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.
The couple were granted bail and will be sentenced on October 10.
