Revealed, final hours of the tiger attack victim: Former child actor, 24, mauled to death at Yorkshire zoo shared series of photos online documenting his day before horror unfolded

DAILYMAIL.COM • 3h ago

By ELIZABETH HAIGH, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER 11:54 14 Oct 2026, updated 11:55 14 Oct 2026

The tragic victim of a tiger attack at a zoo in Yorkshire spent his final hours at the gym and posing for photographs with a crossbow in Doncaster, before embarking on his doomed trip to the wildlife park, social media images show.

William Chapman, 24, who was classed as vulnerable with a history of ‘significant’ mental health problems, jumped into the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Saturday afternoon.

Parkgoers described Mr Chapman as having been dancing to music in his AirPods and pacing up and down on a walkway above the enclosure, describing him as ‘not attached to reality’.

Video footage filmed by Mr Chapman showed the moment he slowly approached one of the park’s two rare Amur tigers, a five-year-old male named Altai.

Minutes later, viral images saw him being toyed with by the big cat, with witnesses describing how it pawed at him before attaching its jaw to his neck.

Emergency services rushed to the park at 1.35pm, but Mr Chapman was confirmed to have died. An inquest is due to open into the death at Doncaster Coroner’s Court on Thursday morning.

A friend of park owner John Minion has said he has been left ‘devastated’ by the incident and was ‘first on the scene’.

After he was named by this newspaper on Tuesday, Mr Chapman’s family said they were heartbroken at the loss of their ‘amazing son’, who they described as ‘a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back’.

They added he had been prescribed ‘strong medication’ to treat his mental ill-health, and ‘it will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death’.

A now-deleted Instagram account paints a picture of how the young man spent his final day before heroic visitors tried and failed to prevent him putting himself in lethal danger.

A series of images posted on the day of his death show Mr Chapman posing at the gym and at a flat in Doncaster with a crossbow.

The first picture shows Mr Chapman outside a convenience store, holding a can of Jack Daniels mixed with Coca-Cola Zero.

This was followed by a second image of a soldier figurine, accompanied by the words ‘SAS’, a heart emoji, and the flag of Uganda.

In the hours before the incident at the wildlife park, former child actor Mr Chapman posted photographs of a property he was staying in, tagging it ‘Doncaster’. One features a replica of an ancient Greek war helmet positioned on his pillow.

The second is a photograph of a living room with a sofa, with Mr Chapman’s shoes and grey tracksuit bottoms visible.

A crossbow and several darts sit in the corner, as well as two backpacks, a computer monitor and laundry. It appears the photo was taken overnight or in the early hours of the morning as it is still dark outside.

The account suggests Mr Chapman later spent time at a swimming pool and the gym in the hours before his death: a selfie taken in blue swimming trunks – which can also be seen in the same laundry in his living room – shows him wearing a blue wristband.

He is then seen posing at the gym in grey tracksuit bottoms and a black sweater, the same outfit he would be seen wearing at the wildlife park hours later.

A final photograph, thought to be one of the last taken of Mr Chapman, shows him sitting on a kitchen worktop while posing with a copy of the Bible in one hand and his crossbow across his lap.

A crossbow dart is between his teeth, and tape emblazoned with the words ‘150lb Recurve Crossbow’ appears to be stuck to the cupboard beneath him.

In the background, a card featuring the word ‘Grandson’ is on display. The card, matched by the Mail to one sold by Amazon, wishes him a happy birthday, adding the message: ‘Believe there’s nothing you can’t do, there’s only one amazing you.’

Other images from his social media, posted around the same time, may have been taken earlier. These include a photo of Mr Chapman dressed all in grey outside the Pantheon in Paris, an image possibly alluding to a famous German influencer, and a picture seemingly taken outside a church.

It’s unknown exactly when Mr Chapman arrived at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, but it appears to be in the hours after these final photographs were taken.

Guests at the park described how, after arriving at the Land of the Tigers attraction, he danced up and down the 300m walkway above the enclosure where Amur tigers Altai and Tschuna live, listening to music in his AirPods.

Zoogoer Del Taylor told yesterday how Mr Chapman had approached her while on the walkway and asked her to take photos of him with one of the tigers in the background.

‘He was so happy,’ she said in a since-deleted TikTok video in which she appealed for cruel trolls to stop making jokes about the tragedy. ‘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.’

A video clip caught the moment, which took place just before he entered the enclosure.

Mr Chapman can be heard saying: ‘Excuse me, can you grab a shot of myself with the tiger?’ while Altai lies in the background under a shaded tree, playing with a fallen branch.

A woman, believed to be Ms Taylor, agrees and takes a photo, before he asks three times for ‘one more’ picture and then says: ‘Thank you, lady.’

Just moments later, Mr Chapman then began climbing over the walkway in a bid to enter the pen.

A heroic older woman desperately tried to pull the 24-year-old back down, but witnesses said she simply ‘wasn’t strong enough’.

Mr Chapman then jumped into the enclosure below.

A final video clip shared on Instagram just minutes before emergency services were scrambled to the scene showed him filming tiger Altai, who was resting on a wooden raised platform within the enclosure, as he slowly walked towards him.

In the background, he can be heard breathing heavily as shocked onlookers cry out ‘oh my God’.

When the tiger attacked, Mr Chapman, a former pupil of the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe, screamed ‘stop’ several times and appeared to make a gesture for ‘bad’ in Makaton – a language system generally used by individuals who struggle to communicate. He also told the 200kg cat to ‘stop being naughty’.

Distressing footage shows how Altai appeared to paw at and toy with Mr Chapman, who was seen sitting and lying on the ground of the enclosure.

Witnesses said the tiger then jumped onto Mr Chapman’s neck.

Visitors were rapidly evacuated and emergency services, including an air ambulance, rushed to the scene, but Mr Chapman was confirmed to have died.

A friend of one of the park’s owners, John Minion, who is a director at the attraction along with his wife Kate, said yesterday: ‘He is obviously devastated and was first at the scene. My heart goes out to him.’

Zookeepers were said to have done ‘everything they could’ to drive tiger Altai off, firing five loud acoustic gun blasts in attempts to scare him.

Two ambulances and a helicopter rushed to the park at 1.35pm, with a ‘black screen’ erected around the enclosure as lifesaving treatment was attempted.

In a statement released last night, 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.

‘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 morning, he also shared an AI-generated video of himself wrestling with and ultimately embracing the tiger, while The Lion Sleeps Tonight plays 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.’

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

The licensing authority for Yorkshire Wildlife Park, City of Doncaster Council, 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.

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