North Yorkshire farmer, 70, fined after woman trampled by cows

By Emily JohnsonBBC News at York Magistrates' Court

A 70-year-old farmer has been fined after a dog walker was seriously injured when she was trampled by cows.

York Magistrates' Court heard Janicke Tvedt suffered seven broken ribs and needed to have part of her colon removed after the incident near Masham.

She told the BBC she "still has visions" of the terrifying ordeal.

Martin Falshaw was sentenced after he admitted failing to take adequate precautions to separate cattle from the public footpath.

Ms Tvedt, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, and her friend, David Hood, had been walking her dogs on a lead along the footpath on 25 July 2021.

The court heard a cow and two calves, which had become separated from the main heard, began to attack her dog before they were then confronted by another three other cows.

One of the cows knocked the victim to her knees and trampled on her.

The friends made their way to a nearby tree but were surrounded by about 15 cows and were forced to climb it to get out of the way.

The court heard Ms Tvedt lost consciousness while in the tree and Mr Hood had had to hold her up until the cows dispersed and he was able to call for help.

Ms Tvedt was airlifted to hospital and needed emergency surgery. Her cancer treatment was also delayed due to her injuries from the attack, the court heard.

"I still have visions of three cows' heads this close from me pinning me against the hedge," Ms Tvedt told the BBC after the hearing.

"I've had the best part of two years in counselling to overcome the trauma. The injuries I have are permanent."

At the time of the incident, no fencing was in place to separate the public footpath from the calving cattle and adequate signage to notify walkers about the danger of cows with calves had not been put up.

The prosecution noted that 10 years previously, another incident happened in one of Mr Falshaw's fields, when a trespasser was chased by cows but escaped uninjured.

It was argued this was a "warning" and he should have known the risks and taken action to safeguard members of the public.

However, the defence counsel said no other incidents had happened in Mr Falshaw's fields with a public footpath through them in 25 years.

Passing sentence, the judge said: "You are a man of good character and you have voluntarily taken steps since the incident to put up fencing.

"But, just because nothing had happened before, it does not mean that there was no likelihood of something like that happening."

The farmer was ordered to pay a £770.50 fine, a £190 victim surcharge and legal costs of £4,539.36.

After the hearing, Ms Tvedt said: "I was totally ignorant of the risks. The sign on the stile just said to put dogs on a lead, which I did."

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