Father and son died after Usk water buffalo attack

A father was left with "unsurvivable injuries" after being trampled by a water buffalo that also killed his son at the family farm, an inquest heard.

Jurors concluded that Ralph Jump, 57, did not have a second person present or a place of safety when he entered the field near Usk, in May 2020.

They said these factors contributed to him being attacked by the bull.

The jury concluded that Mr Jump's son Peter, 19, who went to his father's aid, died as a result of misadventure.

Peter Jump had tried to help his father with an iron bar but was himself injured and later died in hospital.

The inquest had heard how the buffalo also attacked Mr Jump's daughter, Isabel, and paramedics who attended the scene.

The hearing in Newport was told Mr Jump entered the field at the Monmouthshire farm to free the animal's hay ring, after it got caught on an electric fence.

Mr Jump's wife Josephine said he was "rolled by the bull down the field" and that it "wouldn't back down" and her husband was "groaning".

She added their son, who was at home because of the coronavirus lockdown, entered the field with an iron bar to hit the animal away from his father.

Mrs Jump told the inquest the buffalo "didn't like" her son and would "watch him" when he was near.

"All of a sudden the bull started going for Peter and got him," she said.

The inquest heard the buffalo then returned to attack his father.

It was told how a doctor and paramedics were also charged out of the field by the buffalo, before it attacked and "dragged" Mr Jump's daughter down the field.

She was only able to escape when medics threw a rock at the animal, the inquest was told.

One paramedic had to hide in a bush when the animal "trotted" towards her at the farm in the small, rural village of Gwehelog.

The inquest then heard Peter Jump tried to push himself up in the field after being attacked, but the buffalo noticed the movement and ran towards him "and started to gore him".

The air ambulance was told to fly over the buffalo to try and force it away from the people in the field.

The firearms commander who attended the incident told the inquest the calibre of weapon they were carrying "was not really suitable for dispatching a beast of that size".

Sgt Robert Gunney, of Gwent Police, said a specialist rifle had to be collected from a police station 15 minutes away.

However, he told the hearing he instructed his officers to "shoot at the bull" with the weapon they were carrying, adding "the bull was clearly hit and ran off".

The attack ended when the rifle team shot the advancing buffalo with a solid lead slug.

The inquest heard Ralph Jump "had been trampled" and suffered "unsurvivable injuries" and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A pathologist said he suffered catastrophic injuries to the chest, consistent with a "goring injury" by the horn of an animal.

His son was taken to hospital but, after surgery, he went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived.