Picture: South Yorkshire Police

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said staff may have accessed the medical records of a man that was killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, “without a legitimate reason to do so.”

William Chapman, 24, died after multiple traumatic injuries following the fatal tiger attack – an inquest heard.

A spokesperson for the NHS trust said: “We believe there may have been two instances involving two members of staff accessing or attempting to access incident/medical information following this incident without a legitimate reason to do so.”

The YAS stated, “We take the confidentiality and security of patient information extremely seriously and have robust systems in place to protect information, and this concern has been identified as a result of our proactive audits.”

They have begun an investigation to establish the “full circumstances surrounding these potential breaches and the actions of these individuals”.

The trust said it had reported the case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and will continue to keep William Chapman’s family informed on the investigation’s progress.