Yorkshire Ambulance Service investigates possible access to tiger victim’s information

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust is investigating whether two staff members accessed or tried to access information about William Chapman without a legitimate reason after he died at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in South Yorkshire on 10 October. The trust says there may have been two instances involving incident or medical information; its investigation has not established whether access occurred.

The trust said it identified the concern through proactive audits and had informed Chapman’s family. It also reported the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data protection regulator. The investigation will establish the circumstances of the possible breaches and the actions of the staff members involved, the trust said.

What the trust says it is investigating

The concern arose after the trust’s staff responded to emergency calls at the park. Chapman had entered a tiger enclosure, where he sustained fatal injuries. Paramedics attended and confirmed his death at the scene, according to the Guardian’s account of the incident. The possible information access occurred after the attack, the Guardian reported.

Chapman’s death and the park’s reopening

At the opening of the inquest into Chapman’s death, coroner’s officer Caitlin Brookes said he was approached by the tiger and that their physical contact caused multiple traumatic injuries that rapidly led to his death, the Guardian reported. Senior coroner Nicola Mundy said her office was awaiting a fuller report on his injuries before an inquest scheduled for 18 March.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park reopened on Friday, 16 October, after being closed since the attack, the Guardian reported. The trust said it would continue to keep Chapman’s family informed as its investigation progresses. Its inquiry concerns the handling of information following his death, rather than the circumstances of the attack itself.