Family Hopes Lessons Will Now Be Learned To Help Make Countryside Safer For Walkers

The family of a man who died after being trampled by cows in a field in Wiltshire say more needs to be done to keep walkers safe in the countryside after the HSE prosecuted the farmer responsible for the cows.

Mike Porter died from internal bleeding on 13 May 2013 after being attacked by cows while walking on a public right of way through a field near Turleigh in Wiltshire while visiting his brother. The 66-year-old was a retired Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at Edinburgh University.

His long term partner Adrienne Sillar instructed specialist lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to represent the family’s interests.

Now, following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, which found that the farmer had not taken reasonable precautions to keep members of the public protected when they walked on footpaths through his field, Brian Godwin, of Timothy Rise Farm, Limpley Stoke, has pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Consequently, at a sentencing hearing at Swindon Crown Court on 5 December 2017, Brian Godwin was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years.

An Inquest into Mike Porter’s death in June last year heard that several members of the public had suffered serious injuries after similar attacks by cattle in the same fields that lay adjacent to each other. A jury returned a conclusion of accidental death as a result of injuries sustained following an attack by a herd of cows.

Keith Cundall, a specialist solicitor at Irwin Mitchell representing the family, said: “Mike’s death left his family devastated; now they just want to know that action is being taken to reduce the risk of the tragic situation re-occurring.

“The field is a popular walking spot but there were serious concerns regarding previous incidents of cows injuring people in the same fields in previous years. More needs to be done to improve countryside safety for walkers, particularly in areas such as this where there is a clear public safety issue of cows sharing an enclosure with a public right of way.

“This highlights how serious incidents involving cattle attacks can be and I hope others take note of the HSE prosecution to improve safety in future.”

Adrienne, who was Mike’s partner for 35 years and the mother of their two children, said: “Together with our family and friends, I have spent the last three and a half years trying to turn the tragedy of Mike’s death into a positive outcome. 

“Mike’s death was avoidable, and while nothing will bring Mike back to us, we can at least take some comfort that lessons have been learned which will prevent others in the future being needlessly killed or injured.  It is vital that the interests of farmers cannot take precedence over the health and safety of the public, and that those who, like Mike, love walking in the beautiful British countryside can do so without the risk of injury or death. 

“We hope that those agencies with responsibility will now review the guidance relating to the management of livestock in the vicinity of public rights of way.”

The family is also receiving support from Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) a national campaign to stop workers and others being killed in preventable incidents.

Background

As Mike and his brother John, who lives in the area, were walking across the field, along a public footpath, they noticed cows crossing the path in front of them. They stopped and allowed the cows to cross to the other side of the path but, as the men walked forward, a couple of the cows came up behind them and knocked them over. The herd then encircled the two men, and pounded them on the ground.

Passers-by and a neighbour saw the attack but the neighbour, who had himself been attacked by the cows previously, advised them not to enter the field for fear of endangering their own lives.  They then rattled a gate to distract the cows allowing John and Mike to escape the field. Mike died of internal bleeding shortly afterwards while John was airlifted to hospital.

An expert witness on animal behaviour has highlighted the precautions which the farmer should have taken and which had not been implemented in spite of previous warnings from the HSE

Mike’s family is keen to support public access to the countryside as well as respecting the interests of farmers; they are now looking for changes which will reduce the risk of future injury or death.

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