The family of 24-year-old William Chapman, who was killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, raised concerns about his contact with mental health charities before his death, an inquest heard.

Doncaster Coroner’s Court was told that Mr Chapman died after climbing over two fences and entering the enclosure containing 30st tiger Altai on October 10, 2026.

A post-mortem examination provisionally identified the cause of death as “multiple traumatic injuries” and “animal interaction”.

His family, who did not attend the inquest, told the coroner that the former child star had “a history of mental illness”.

They said he had previously experienced episodes of psychosis and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

An officer told the hearing: “His family have expressed a number of concerns in relation to his contact with mental health services leading up to his death.”

Keepers reportedly did “everything they could” to move Altai away from Mr Chapman, firing five loud acoustic gun blasts in an effort to frighten the tiger off.

Two ambulances and a helicopter were sent to the scene at 1.35pm in an attempt to save the former child star. However, Mr Chapman was pronounced dead at the scene.

The former child star, who appeared on ITV and BBC programmes, had a history of “significant” mental health problems and was considered vulnerable.

Visitors described him as being “not attached to reality” as he danced to music through his headphones and paced along a walkway before entering the tiger enclosure.

Visitor Del Taylor recalled that Mr Chapman approached her and asked for a photograph with one of the tigers visible behind him shortly before the incident.

“He was so happy,” she said in a TikTok video, which has since been deleted, as she urged cruel trolls to stop making jokes about the tragedy.

She said: “And then he’s come and placed himself next to us, and he’s passed me his phone, and he’s asked me for his photo, and if you’d have seen him, without saying too much, you would understand why I’m saying what I’m saying.”

Distressing footage shared online showed the tiger pawing at Mr Chapman, who could be seen sitting and lying on the ground. The zoo has confirmed that Altai will not be euthanised.

The former Jackie Palmer Stage pupil screamed “stop” several times during the attack and appeared to make the Makaton gesture for “bad”, using a language system generally associated with people who have difficulty communicating.

He also told the 200kg tiger to “stop being naughty”.

Video captured the moments before he entered the enclosure. In it, Mr Chapman, who was named by this newspaper, can be heard asking a visitor to photograph him with a tiger in the background.

Altai, the animal that killed him, could be seen lying in the background under a shaded tree, playing with a fallen branch.

Mere minutes later, Mr Chapman began climbing over the walkway in an attempt to enter the pen as a heroic older woman tried to pull him back down. However, according to witnesses, she simply ‘wasn’t strong enough’. 

A final video clip before the tragedy, shared to Instagram, showed Mr Chapman filming Altai, who was resting on a wooden raised platform, and began to slowly approach him. 

In the background, the 24-year-old’s heavy breathing could be heard, as shocked onlookers cried, ‘oh my God’.

In a statement this week, Mr Chapman’s family said they are ‘utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

‘The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.

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‘The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their utmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did.’

As well as being mocked by trolls online, footage of the attack was also posted by US President Donald Trump last night, who wrote: ‘Don’t ever mess with nature!’

On Wednesday, he shared an AI-generated video of himself wrestling with and ultimately embracing the tiger, as The Lion Sleeps Tonight played in the background.

Mr Chapman’s family added: ‘William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back.

‘Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication.

‘It will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death. We would ask everybody to respect that process.’

On Wednesday, Downing Street said people should respect the family views over the footage of the incident. 

However, No10 would not directly comment on Donald Trump posting the video online.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘I think obviously the family have made their position clear. Of course, we respect that position.’

But he added: ‘I’m not going to comment on the president’s social media channels; he’s got a press secretary who can speak to that.’

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard condemned the president’s actions, saying the Chapman family had contacted his office.

‘They spoke to my office yesterday, sharing the pain and suffering it’s causing them, knowing that videos and pictures of his death are being shared across social media,’ he said.

‘The president of the United States now using AI to mock that incident and the pain felt by the family of Mr Chapman, for little more than a cheap laugh on social media, should be greeted with the contempt it deserves.

‘So I’m asking you, please, not to add to this family’s pain. If someone shares the content with you, please don’t pass it on. ‘

The mayor added: ‘What happened at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Saturday was tragic, not least because it’s a place so many people associate with a family day out.’

‘The family of Mr Chapman remain utmost in my thoughts. I know all decent people across South Yorkshire will be sending them their love, thoughts and empathy.’

Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which remains closed, confirmed that Altai will not be euthanised in the wake of the incident.

City of Doncaster Council, the licensing authority for Yorkshire Wildlife Park, has now launched a health and safety investigation into the man’s death.

Dan Swaine, executive director of place at City of Doncaster Council, said: ‘As the relevant licensing authority for the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, I can confirm that, in line with our statutory duties, the council has launched a health and safety investigation.

‘We are also working with multiple agencies, including the police and health agencies, and are supporting the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in response to the incident.

‘At this time, we won’t be commenting further on the individual or the investigation and we ask that the privacy of those involved is respected at this difficult time.’

As a child, Mr Chapman appeared in the ITV production May Contain Nuts alongside Shirley Henderson and Darren Boyd.

He also played Edward Jenner in the BBC series True Stories.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are set to appear together in public in the UK for the first time since returning, although the Duchess of Sussex is expected to keep similar engagements to a minimum.

The couple will attend several charity-focused events in Nottingham, including a community food initiative created following the Grenfell Tower disaster.

However, a friend says Meghan no longer considers herself a working royal, describing her current role instead as that of a “full-time mum and entrepreneur”.

The Sussexes are scheduled to undertake three quasi-royal engagements across the East Midlands on Thursday. The visit marks their first official public appearance in Britain since the Queen’s funeral in 2022, while their most recent public engagement took place in Bondi, Australia, in April.

Nottingham holds particular significance for the couple, as it was the setting for their first royal walkabout together in 2017.

A source described their return nine years later as having a “really nice synergy”, while acknowledging that circumstances have changed since their previous visit.

Meghan, who had lunch in London yesterday with the hairstylist who worked on her royal wedding, is not expected to make appearances of this kind regularly.

“Her public appearances will be relatively rare. She is reading a lot of scripts at the moment. If she has time left after all of that, she will do some charity work,” a source close to the Sussexes said.

“But she’s not a working royal. Her schedule is not built around a programme arranged by a private secretary. She’s a full-time mum and entrepreneur, and that alone involves a great deal of time and effort.”

Meghan is also planning to bring her lifestyle brand, As Ever, to the UK before the end of the year.

Harry remains focused on his charitable commitments, particularly the Invictus Games, while Meghan is concentrating on her business interests and a possible return to acting.

“They have different professional priorities,” one source told the Telegraph.

“Prince Harry’s priorities are philanthropic work and public service. Her focus is her family and children, followed by her business and then restarting her acting career.”

During Thursday’s visit, the Sussexes will call at three Nottingham charities, including the Community Recording Studio, where Meghan is expected to join an acting workshop.

They will also visit the Himmah food bank, the Hubb Community Kitchen and Epic Partners, an organisation providing sports mentoring to children between the ages of four and 18.

Hubb Community Kitchen was founded after the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, which claimed 72 lives, and has remained a cause especially close to Meghan’s heart.

The Duchess contributed the foreword to the group’s 2018 cookbook, Together.

Meghan has had a particularly busy fortnight, unveiling a new advent calendar and announcing a partnership with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.

To mark the International Day of the Girl on October 11, she is donating one day’s proceeds from all As Ever jam and tea sales in support of Yousafzai’s charity, the Malala Fund.

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Although the Daily Mail’s Alison Boshoff revealed that this may end up being less than the £2,000 value of the trousers she wore when they met at Claridge’s last week.  

On Sunday, alongside a shot of her grinning at that tea, as Malala looked solemn, the Duchess shared a joint statement from the pair. 

‘When we support the girls today, we empower the women of tomorrow. Access to education is the key to unlocking this,’ she said.

She then told her 4.9million followers: ‘This International Day of the Girl, in partnership with Archewell Philanthropies, 100 per cent of net proceeds from As Ever jams and teas will support Malala Fund and its vital work to ensure every girl has access to free safe quality education. Tea for Two has never felt so good. Shop at asever.com’.

Her office this week declined to confirm any sales figures from Sunday.

Even a generous extrapolation from the only available data suggests a day of proceeds from tea and jam will add around £1,900 to the Malala Fund coffers. 

Despite becoming increasingly active in the UK, including through a number of visits to London, the couple have yet to meet King Charles and remain estranged from the Prince and Princess of Wales.

One source claimed the Sussexes have taken their Christmas plans into their own hands because they ‘know they’re not invited’ to Sandringham.

It would be ‘too difficult and awkward’ to spend Christmas with the Royal Family, a friend said.

‘They won’t be having Christmas with the Royal Family. How could that even work? They know it would be too awkward and too difficult. They also know they’re not going to be invited, and they’re not waiting for an invitation.

‘For Thanksgiving and Christmas, they will do whatever Doria wants to do. They would love her to come over to the UK and spend it with them here, but they will be wherever she wants to be.’

The friend added: ‘He [Harry] has not yet seen the King, who is still in Scotland, but it will happen.’

The couple are expected to spend the festive period with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, 70, who lives less than a two-hour drive from their Montecito home.

Another friend told the Daily Mail that the Sussexes are trying to ‘keep their heads down between now and Christmas’, when they will return to California for the holidays.

Harry and Meghan are understood to be planning to spend school holidays and half-term breaks either in California or Portugal, where they also own a property.

Ms Ragland has been a constant presence in the family’s life since the couple stepped down as senior royals and relocated to the United States in 2020. She lives in a bungalow in an affluent residential area outside Los Angeles and has formed a particularly close bond with her grandchildren.

As for Archie and Lilibet’s other grandparents, King Charles and Queen Camilla saw them in person for the first time in four years at Highgrove in July.

It is understood Harry remains in contact with his father by phone. The monarch is enjoying an extended summer and autumn break at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Harry and the Prince of Wales have not spoken since 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered the resumption of strikes on Vladimir Putin’s oil refineries after accusing Donald Trump of “betrayal” amid a fresh wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine.

Speaking to the Financial Times, the Ukrainian president said the suspension of US intelligence-sharing and the simultaneous reduction in Starlink satellite connectivity were “dangerous” for civilians.

“The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” Zelensky said defiantly.

His comments followed a major drone attack on Russia’s Ryazan region, where a fire broke out at an oil refinery. It was the first Ukrainian strike on an energy facility since Trump announced a surprise “energy ceasefire” on Sunday.

Separately, a fuel terminal in Rostov-on-Don spectacularly burst back into flames after burning for five days.

Zelensky had suspended attacks on energy targets for three days in response to US demands. He said the strikes would now resume because Putin’s forces continued targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Elon Musk, whose SpaceX company operates the Starlink satellite network that has slowed in recent days, criticised Ukraine’s renewed attacks on Russian oil facilities in a post on X.

“And so the slaughter continues,” the tech billionaire wrote. “Time for Zelensky to go.”

Zelensky also condemned Trump’s apparent admiration for Putin, accusing the US president of having an instinctive affinity for autocrats and wealthy figures.

In recent days, Trump has called for Zelensky to step down, signed a “treacherous” agreement with Putin to purchase Russian diesel and blamed the Ukrainian leader for soaring energy prices.

“He [Trump] speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people. Because for him people who can be leaders 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, it means they can be very strong,” Zelensky told the FT.

Washington has increased pressure on Kyiv to halt attacks against Russian refineries, arguing that a moratorium—combined with a US agreement to buy hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Russian diesel—is needed to reduce fuel prices in America.

Although Ukraine observed the ceasefire, Zelensky said its forces were deprived of US early-warning alerts for incoming ballistic missiles. He also said Starlink communications had been slowed nationwide, disrupting frontline operations and medium-range attacks on Russian military positions.

According to Zelensky, Ukrainian military officials were told by their US counterparts that “if you will not stop [the energy strikes], we will block intelligence”. The warning was later described to Kyiv as the result of a technical error.

“It was not a technical problem, it was the will,” Zelensky told the FT.

Trump earlier denied that Washington had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Musk wrote on X late Wednesday that Starshield systems—the military-grade satellite network based on Starlink technology—were “owned and controlled by the US government”.

‘Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,’ he said, referring to Trump.

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The breakdown in relations between Kyiv and Washington comes as American officials have proposed that European countries unfreeze some Russian sovereign assets immobilised after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The assets would be transferred to a vehicle overseen by Washington in an attempt to revive peace talks. 

European ⁠delegates rebuffed the plan, which was pitched by US ​special envoy ​Steve ⁠Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared ​Kushner, ⁠the FT said.

Tension between Ukraine and its most important security partner has spiralled to its worst level since Trump and his senior aides gave Zelensky a public dressing-down in the Oval Office in February last year. 

Zelensky emphasised that Ukraine’s relationship with the US as an ‘honest’ and ‘strategic’ partner was pivotal in the fight against Moscow, comparing it to Kyiv’s relationship with Britain.

‘Russia can fight… all of us but only when we are not together,’ Zelensky said.

He insisted it was not up to him to mend relations with the White House, saying: ‘We didn’t destroy any relationship.’

Asked whether Kyiv would halt energy strikes even if Moscow continued, as a way of reducing tension with the White House, he said he could only agree if in return he was given more US-made Patriot interceptors. 

That was the ‘minimum’ that he asked for, he said, adding that when he requested more air defences the American response was to weaken Starlink’s service. 

Zelensky added that halting energy strikes also risked only encouraging the US and Russia to pursue more deals, potentially providing more money for Putin’s war coffers.

‘The question will be when will the next deal be? Maybe it will be gas. Definitely it will be gas,’ the Ukrainian leader said.

‘Business is interesting between the United States and Russia,’ he noted. ‘I think that they [America] want to have energy projects and… [that] of course for them is difficult to have when there is war in Europe.’

The ‘energy ceasefire’ was announced just days after Trump declared a deal to import nearly two million tonnes of Russian diesel over the next few months.

He is under pressure to reduce fuel prices as the US heads towards midterm elections next month, which are predicted to be a bloodbath for his Republican Party.

Zelensky suggested Trump could face a public backlash following his actions, however.

‘This politically is not simple [in America], because everybody will want to ask how it can be when some people are surviving, fighting, dying – and you make… business with the guys with such aggression,’ he said.

Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Zelensky agreed he felt ‘betrayed’ by Trump’s actions over the past few days, and warned the president: ‘This is not the right side of history.’ 

Zelensky was in central London after a day of discussions with King Charles, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and defence officials. 

On Thursday he is addressing EU leaders in Brussels to lobby for more robust sanctions against Moscow and a faster release of EU funds to assist Ukraine’s war effort. 

He said fighting without Washington would be ‘very difficult’ and conceded Europe would be stronger if truly united. 

But a succession of elections in Europe over the next 12 months, with possible gains for pro-Kremlin parties, could bring ‘a lot of challenges’ for Kyiv, he admitted. 

Sam Wood is proceeding with plans to sell the Brighton home he shares with his wife, Snezana, while he remains in custody on domestic violence charges.

The former The Bachelor star and Snezana had intended to list the $7.15 million property just days before Wood was arrested.

According to the Herald Sun, the listing was reportedly “days, if not hours, away” when Wood was taken into custody.

The sale preparations have since moved forward, with pre-market work reportedly underway at the Brighton residence.

Jellis Craig agent Michael Hingston is expected to oversee the online campaign, which is due to launch this week.

The Wood family bought the property for approximately $7 million in September 2025, several months after selling their Elsternwick home for $6.6 million.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom home includes a swimming pool and tennis court. Wood and Snezana moved into the Brighton property earlier this year.

Wood, 46, remains behind bars after being transferred on Tuesday to a prison that houses some of Australia’s most notorious convicted killers, rapists and paedophiles.

The personal trainer was arrested and charged with domestic violence offences more than a week ago following an alleged assault at the couple’s $3,000-a-night holiday home in Noosa on October 3.

Wood was denied bail last Thursday when he appeared at Maroochydore Magistrates’ Court over the allegations involving Snezana, who is supporting the decision for the charges to proceed.

Prosecutors allege Wood pushed Snezana into a wardrobe, grabbed her by the throat, threw her against a wall and hit her head against the floor. The incident was allegedly witnessed by her 21-year-old daughter, Eve, who called triple-0.

During the Queensland court hearing, police prosecutor Sergeant Jeanette Grigoris also told the court that Wood had allegedly choked Snezana during an earlier, similar incident.

Sergeant Grigoris said Wood had not been charged in relation to the earlier alleged incident, but described his behaviour as “escalating”.

The court heard that an argument allegedly erupted in Noosa before the couple were due to return to Melbourne, during which Snezana was reportedly pushed into a wardrobe before Eve intervened.

Eve allegedly told Wood to stop shouting, after which he approached her “aggressively”. Snezana then reportedly attempted to step between them.

Wood is then alleged to have put his hands around Snezana’s throat and forced her to the floor, where he pinned her down and banged her head, leaving her unable to breathe.

She told police she thought ‘this was it… her life was going to end’. She said she thought Wood was ‘going to kill her’, the court heard.

Snezana had also told police Wood was ‘volatile and prone to angry outbursts’, and said she had to ‘walk on eggshells around him’.

Mr Cuskelly said his client suffered from severe depression and might rely on self-defence if the case went to trial.

While a paramedic had stated there was an injury to the left side of Snezana’s head, Mr Cuskelly said two tendered photographs did not show that injury.

The lawyer added: ‘He repeatedly denied that this had occurred. Where’s the injuries to her throat? They’re not there.

‘My client denies committing these offences.

‘He’s never been before the courts before. He’s a businessman [and] Mr Wood’s depression is regarded as extremely severe.’

Meanwhile, Snezana stepped out in public on Tuesday for the first time since the charges. 

In exclusive pictures obtained by the Mail, 46-year-old Snezana was seen without her wedding ring during an outing in Melbourne.