Inquiry into care of man held after boy injured in crocodile pit
Norfolk County Council initiates inquiry
Last updated 6th Jul 2026
A local authority has begun an investigation concerning the care of a man who was arrested following a serious incident at a zoo near Huntingdon.
On 18th June, a three-year-old boy was attacked by at least one crocodile at Johnsons of Old Hurst zoo.
The child's family reported that he has undergone surgery five times since the incident and is expected to require extensive rehabilitation.
Cambridgeshire Police arrested and bailed a 30-year-old man from Norfolk on suspicion of attempted murder.
Norfolk County Council has confirmed it has launched a Section 42 inquiry, a spokesperson said: "The individual in question is not receiving any care provided, commissioned or paid for by Norfolk County Council."
"Under the Care Act, a Section 42 inquiry is initiated as a statutory safeguarding measure to protect adults with care and support needs from any form of abuse or neglect."
The man has been released on bail until 18th September, with police stating he was "assessed as not being fit for interview".
The injured boy remains in stable condition at Addenbrooke's Hospital.
An online fundraiser for his family has now reached nearly £60,000.
An update from the boy’s parents provided further insight into their challenging situation:
"We are extremely grateful for everyone’s generosity.
"We could never thank you enough for the support you have given our family in this horrible time. We have been living at the hospital for two weeks and our son has undergone five surgeries.
"At this moment in time we know that our son is to undergo at least two more surgeries, one of those surgeries being a nerve reconstruction in his arm.
"These last two weeks have been a very uncertain and unsettling time. This uncertainty remains as we still don’t know the extent of his feeling, movement and function in both of his arms, wrists and hands.
"The money that has been donated so far has been used to pay for our expenses. We are both currently away from work and the time in which this will need to be the case is unknown.
"We have a newborn baby to look after, mortgage to pay for and other expenses including our car, food and bills.
"The donations have helped ease the pressure of these expenses so we are extremely grateful to everyone. Further donations will be used to support our son’s rehabilitation and to give back to the hospital who have helped us in many ways during this challenging time."