Michelle Hempstead: Mother of five killed by pet mastiff rottweiler after dog fight over chicken nuggets

A mother of five died in horrific circumstances after getting ‘caught in the crossfire’ of a fight over chicken nuggets between her two pet dogs, a coroner has found.

An artery in Michelle Hempstead’s upper left arm was severed when her mastiff rottweiler Trigg bit her as he fought with her pet Pomeranian Pom, causing the Essex woman to suffer massive blood loss.

Ms Hempstead, 34, had been throwing the fried treats to her dogs when things took a vicious turn on July 29, 2024.

Neighbours described at the time how she climbed over the balcony railing of her flat screaming, with blood pouring from her arm, before collapsing near a play area.

She was rushed to hospital but died the next day after suffering organ failure.

Adding to the tragedy for Ms Hempstead’s grieving family was the fact that she had lost her only daughter just weeks earlier.

“The double tragedy about this is that she and the rest of her family suffered a terrible bereavement only a few weeks beforehand, of the death of her daughter,” Senior coroner Lincoln Brookes said.

“She was still reeling from that.”

Ms Hempstead’s partner, Samuel West, told the inquest into her death that she had bought a box of 20 nuggets from McDonald’s and she liked to throw them up in the air for the dogs to grab.

“The little one, Pom, was going for the big one, not aggressively but he used to growl and snap when he wanted to get the nugget first,” The Sun reported him telling the court.

Mr West said the rottweiler who “didn’t have a bad bone in his body”, snapped his mouth and Ms Hempstead was “caught in the crossfire’ of what was a freak accident.

“It looked to me like it wasn’t a grab,” he told the coroners court.

Mr Brookes concluded Ms Hempstead’s death was accidental.

“Michelle Hempstead died of the consequences of traumatic blood loss following a single bite from her large dog in her home which severed an artery.

“The bite was not malicious and occurred when she was caught during a brief fight between her two dogs over food.”

The dogs, which were seized after the incident, had been “disclaimed for destruction”.