Farmer given suspended sentence for cow trampling incident

A farmer whose cows trampled a dog walker to death and left the man’s wife paralysed from the waist down has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to health and safety failings.

Martin Howard Mitchell was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the incident at Hollinghurst Farm, Netherton, Wakefield, in September 2020.

See also: Farmer fined more than £5,000 after cattle attack walkers

Michael and Teresa Holmes were walking their two dogs on leads on a public footpath which ran through a field where cows were grazing with calves at foot.

The cattle were not segregated from the footpath and the couple were attacked.

Mr Holmes, 57, died at the scene and Mrs Holmes is now confined to a wheelchair.

In a victim personal statement, Mrs Holmes said her life had been “thrown into great turmoil as a result of the farmer’s negligence”.

Mitchell pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

In addition to the jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, he was fined £500 by magistrates sitting at Leeds on 22 May and ordered to pay £3,500 costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Sally Gay said the incident could have easily been avoided if Mitchell had taken “basic precautions”.

“Readily available HSE guidance states that, where possible, cows with calves should not be grazed in fields where there is a public right of way,” she said.

“Where this is not possible, they should be segregated from the footpath by appropriate fencing where it is reasonable to do so.”