'Fearless' toddler, 2, was mauled by Rottweiler in field next to his own home
A “fearless toddler” died after being mauled by a Rottweiler kept by his dogbreeder grandmother, who found him face down in a field after the attack.
Little Lawson Bond suffered injuries to his head, chest and neck in the attack by the dog at the cottage in Egdon, Worcestershire, in March last year. An inquest at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court heard his grandmother, Maria Bond, had bred and sold puppies for around 30 years, although she did not have a licence to do so.
On the day of the incident, Mrs Bond was cleaning out the kennels of three female dogs and had let them into the adjoining field and went inside to go to the toilet. When she came back out she noticed the wooden gate, which was usually secured with a metal chain, was open and her grandson was not there.
Lawson was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital and was transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital (SWNS)She found Lawson face down in the nearby field and screamed. He was rushed to Worcestershire Royal Hospital but died two days later.
The three female dogs, one of which had blood on its face, were still in the field when West Mercia Police officers arrived at the cottage and were removed from the property.
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Speaking about his son at the inquest, Reiss Bond said Lawson was an "energetic" child and "nothing would faze him". He added: “He couldn't wait to get up in the morning. Everything I did, he wanted to do as well.
"He was fearless and would want to be out and doing what I was doing, whether that was cleaning the kennels or hoovering. The three dogs, they used to sit there and lick his face. He did have contact with all the dogs but I would never, ever leave him alone with them, not that I ever had that worry about them."
In a statement, West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedic Steve Grant said when they arrived at the scene, they saw Mr Bond doing CPR on the severely injured little boy. After initially being taken to Worcestershire Royal for emergency surgery, Lawson was transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital's paediatrics intensive care unit.
Consultant Dr Sanjay Revanna said in a statement that Lawson had been in cardiac arrest for around 30 minutes, which had resulted in swelling of his brain. Despite surgery to repair his wounds, Lawson had seizures and the damage to his brain was getting progressively worse before he died on the morning of March 30 2022. A post-mortem examination found that Lawson had multiple serious injuries, including to his head, chest and neck, including a wound to his left internal carotid artery which had been repaired during surgery.
Maria Bond said of the morning: “At first I thought 'that little bugger has gone into the field', so I shouted his name and I went up to get him back in. He was laying face down and I couldn't see any of the dogs. I panicked, I grabbed him, picked him up and screamed.
"I ran through the gate and put him down on the lawn - I didn't know what to do. I called 999 but I was hysterical."
Detective Constable David Hartley, investigating officer, said when he arrived at the cottage at around 6pm the day Lawson was injured, he noticed the fencing surrounding the field and kennels was "well constructed" and "very secure".
Niall McMenamin, who deals with licensing at Worcestershire Regulatory Services on behalf of the councils in Worcestershire, said there was no record on their database of Mrs Bond ever having, or applying for, a licence to breed dogs. Coroner Mr Reid said although he had no reason to believe Mrs Bond not having a breeding licence contributed to her grandson's death, he would be writing a Prevention of Future Deaths report to Wychavon District Council because he was concerned they are not being proactive enough in finding "unscrupulous" breeders in their area.
He said: "All three dogs were said to be calm and well-behaved. There is no evidence that provides any connection between Mrs Bond being unlicensed and Lawson's death and there is no evidence that the way they were looked after contributed to his death.
"The impression that their vet had was that they were healthy with no signs of negligence. There are two possibilities, one being that Lawson opened the gate, or that Mrs Bond left the gate unsecured when she went inside to use the toilet.
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"Her clear recollection was that she secured the gate and I have no reason to doubt that. It seems that Lawson did manage to climb the gate and lift the chain over the gate post." The coroner recorded Lawson's death as misadventure and gave his condolences to his family, saying: "None of us in this room can imagine what the past year has been like for you."
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