Little Daniel’s death was ‘wholly preventable’

THE tragic death of three-year-old Daniel Twigg was “wholly preventable” says the senior investigating officer on the case.

- BY AMY WALKER

Joanne Bedford and Mark Twigg were found guilty of being a person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury, following the death of their three-year-old son, Daniel Twigg.

Bedford was jailed for three-and-a-half years and Twigg was handed two years and eight months. Both were banned from owning dogs for 15 years.

Jailing them both, Mr Justice Kerr said: “No sentence in a case such as this can undo the damage done, nor assuage the grief of the bereaved. You have both lost your beloved son.”

‘The senior investigating officer on the case, now retired Detective Chief Inspector within GMP’s Major Incident Team, Gina Brennand (pictured), said: “These types of cases are incredibly difficult to deal with, for everyone concerned. They present complex issues for a jury, given the quite natural sympathy felt towards Joanne Bedford and Mark Twigg, who lost their young son.

“However, this was a wholly preventable death in which the people who were supposed to protect Daniel, his parents, failed him significantly.

‘They knew the dogs were vicious, they knew Daniel loved dogs and they knew he could enter the pen.

“They ignored warnings from the RSPCA and children’s social care. At no point have they expressed responsibility or culpability for what happened to Daniel. He died in the most heartrending of circumstances.