Woman sent her mother photo of cattle before being ‘trampled to death’ in field

A woman sent her mother a photo of cattle before she was “trampled” to death by a cow in the same field, an inquest heard.

Rebekah Morris, known as Becki, was walking her dog in Littlethorpe, Leicestershire, on the evening of July 9, 2022, when the incident happened.

A jury inquest, which began at Leicester Crown Court on Monday, heard that the 29-year-old sent the image with the word “cows” to her mother during her walk shortly before 9pm.

The inquest was told Morris stopped responding to text messages, prompting her parents to look for her in the field shown in the photo, where they found her injured.

She went into cardiac arrest and, despite the efforts of paramedics, was pronounced dead at 11:21 p.m.

Forensic pathologist Dr Michael Biggs, who carried out the post-mortem examination of Ms Morris, told the jury her injuries were “consistent with hoof marks from a hit-and-run incident”.

He told the court she suffered blunt traumatic injuries and abrasions to her upper chest and left shoulder.

“There was extensive damage to the liver, which led to severe internal bleeding. That’s the main reason Becki died,” he said.

He added that the number of injuries was “not so great” that he believed the entire herd was involved and instead thought it was a “relatively brief incident involving one cow.”

Biggs said there was “enough suspicion” to do a post-mortem forensic examination to “rule out” one person’s involvement.

“There were no other injuries to suggest anyone else was involved,” he said. “All injuries were consistent with a cattle trampling incident.

“The type and location of the injuries in this case, to me, were indicative of something else, like a large, heavy creature – like a cow.”

There were traces of alcohol and medication in Ms Morris’s blood at the time, but it was “not a dangerous combination”, Dr Biggs told the inquest.

The investigation, which is expected to last five days, continues.