William Chapman arrived alone at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster on the afternoon of 10 October 2026 and, according to multiple eyewitness accounts, spent time pacing near the tiger enclosure with headphones in his ears before scaling two separate fences and dropping into the habitat of a large Amur tiger named Altai. Visitors on the raised walkway later told reporters they saw him jump in, crawl forward, and position himself close to the animal, which was resting on a wooden platform at the time. One woman described how a bystander tried speaking to him moments before he entered, while others recalled people shouting for him to come back and banging on the sides of the enclosure in an attempt to distract the tiger. Staff responded quickly, firing air sH๏τs to try and divert Altai, yet the encounter escalated within minutes as the tiger approached and made physical contact.

Chapman was heard shouting for help before being pronounced ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at the scene. Mobile phone footage believed to have been recorded by Chapman himself circulated afterward, showing him walking across the grᴀss toward the tiger from inside the enclosure. The park was evacuated, and both South Yorkshire Police and Doncaster Council launched investigations. At the opening of the inquest on 15 October, the coroner’s officer confirmed that Chapman had climbed the two fences around 1.30pm, that the tiger approached him, and that the resulting interaction caused multiple traumatic injuries that rapidly led to his death. The provisional post-mortem findings listed the cause as multiple traumatic injuries and animal interaction. Chapman, whose full name was William Harry Bruce Chapman, was 24 years old, born in Chichester in 2002, and living in Doncaster at the time. He worked as a self-employed online trader. The full inquest has been adjourned until 18 March 2027, with the coroner requesting CCTV and any records of previous visits by Chapman to the park. The incident has left many questions about the sequence of events that unfolded in full view of other visitors and staff, as well as the precise circumstances that led a young man to enter the enclosure that day.

The opening of the inquest into William Chapman’s death at Doncaster Coroner’s Court on 15 October brought into public focus details of his long-term mental health struggles and the concerns his family had raised about the support he received. Coroner’s officer Caitlin Brookes told the hearing that Chapman had a history of mental illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and had suffered previous bouts of psychosis. He was under the care of adult mental health services in Doncaster through the Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, yet was described as highly functioning and independent with no care requirements. The family expressed a number of concerns about his contact with those services in the period leading up to his death, and the trust has since launched its own investigation. In a statement issued earlier in the week, Chapman’s relatives described him as a bright, warm and engaging young man whom they dearly loved and who loved them back. They said he had endured significant mental illness over a number of years and had been prescribed strong medication, adding that it would be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death.

They also appealed for people to stop circulating deeply offensive media content, which they said was causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time, and expressed hope that authorities would get to the bottom of why their son did what he did. Chapman’s stepfather identified his body at the mortuary. The family chose not to attend the brief opening hearing because they were finding things incredibly difficult, and the senior coroner, Nicola Mundy, said her staff would update them afterward. The inquest also heard that samples had been taken for toxicological investigation.

With the full hearing set for March 2027 and both the mental health trust and Doncaster Council conducting separate inquiries, the case has drawn attention to how services ᴀssess and support people living independently with serious conditions such as schizophrenia, particularly when previous psycH๏τic episodes have been documented.