A young woman trampled to death by cows took a photograph of the herd and sent it to her mother before she was found seriously injured, an inquest heard.
Rebekah Morris, 29, was out walking her small Chihuahua called Zero in fields close to her home when she sent the image to her mother with the caption ‘cowz’.
She then stopped responding to messages, prompting her worried parents to go to the field in the photograph where they found her.
Emergency services were called but she went into cardiac arrest and, despite efforts by paramedics, was pronounced dead at the scene in Littlethorpe, Leicestershire, on the evening of July 9 2022.
A jury inquest, which began at Leicester Coroner’s Court on Monday, heard Ms Morris sent the image with the just before 9pm.
Farmer Guy Hutton and other residents gave her CPR before emergency services arrived. It was initially thought Ms Morris may have been attacked or strangled, a paramedic who attended the scene told the hearing.
But forensic pathologist Michael Biggs told the inquest that Ms Morris – known to family and friends as Becki – had ‘hoofprints’ to her chest and shoulder, and suffered an injury to her liver, which led to her death from internal bleeding.
He told the court she had suffered blunt force traumatic injuries and abrasions to her upper chest and left shoulder and her injuries were ‘consistent with hoof marks from a trampling incident’.
‘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’.
Dr Biggs said there was ‘enough of a suspicion’ to do a forensic post-mortem examination to ‘rule out’ the involvement of a person. But added: ‘There were no other injuries to suggest the involvement of another person. 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 medications in Ms Morris’s blood at the time, the jury was told, but these were ‘not a dangerous combination’, Dr Biggs told the inquest.
The inquest, which is expected to last five days, continues.