Yorkshire Dales farmer fined for allowing his cattle to trample dog walker, 82, to death

David Tinniswood, 82, died in May 2020 while walking with his wife and two border terriers through Ivescar Farm at Chapel-le-Dale, near Ribblehead Viaduct, on a public footpath.

The retired teacher from Lancashire was attacked by cows with calves and his wife was seriously injured. At the time they were following a public right of way through the farmyard.

The farm is run by the Sharpe family, who had already been warned about their cattle following an earlier attack in 2003.

Christopher Paul Sharpe has now been given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months after pleading guilty to safety breaches at Leeds Magistrates Court. He was fined a total of £878 and was ordered to pay £7,820 in court costs.

Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Julian Franklin said: “A number of measures could have been taken to safeguard walkers using the path, while cattle and calves were grazing in that field.

“Firstly, not using that field for cattle and calves. Most farmers will have other groups of stock that can graze fields containing rights of way, so can reduce the risk of incidents by putting sheep in them, or they could take fodder crops from them. Cattle with calves can be put in fields without rights of way, away from members of the public, or can be segregated from walkers.

“Farmers should ensure they take all reasonably practicable precautions to protect walkers on public rights of way, especially when they are grazing cows and calves together, or bulls are present.”

An inquest held into Mr Tinniswood's death heard that he and his wife Carol noticed a 'faded' sign warning them of the presence of a bull in a field at Ivescar Farm, but did not see any cattle from the gate so continued across a public right of way with their dogs Bracken and Rusty.

Mrs Tinniswood, who survived the attack with a fractured rib and lacerations, assured the jury inquest held at Pavilions of Harrogate that the two dogs had been on fixed-length leads.

Mrs Tinniswood described how a group of around 20 cattle approached her and her husband as they proceeded down the track through the field, but they decided to continue walking as they had gone too far to turn back. She was pushed to the ground and saw her husband airborne and tossed over her head.

Mr Tinniswood was pronounced dead at the scene, having suffered major abdominal trauma, and Rusty, the older of their two dogs, also died. In a statement read to the inquest, Mrs Tinniswood said the presence of a bull 'did not worry' the couple, but had they seen a warning about cows with calves they would not have entered the field as they were aware that females are protective around their young when dogs are present.

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority head of park management Alan Hulme gave evidence which included an incident report from 2003, when cattle owned by Ivescar Farm had attacked another dog walker and flung him into the path of a car. The farmers, the Sharpe family, had been sent an official letter at the time and were advised to move the herd to an enclosed pasture.

Christopher Sharp confirmed that on May 30 there were 32 suckler cows in the field and it was one of just two grazing pastures available to the family. They had been kept in the same field in 2019, with no incidents reported.

He believed the herd was 'docile' as he regularly monitored the cows for signs of aggression, separating new livestock for at least a year. The herd had been together as a group since 2018.

Mr Sharpe, 50, said cattle had grazed in the 'bottom field' since his grandfather's day and that his uncle Thomas, who received the warning in 2003, had never told him about the previous incident and his father Alan had not known about it. Thomas Sharpe has since retired.

He added that the number of walkers using the bridleway the Tinniswoods had taken, which is also the main drive to his and his neighbour's farms, had increased by around three times since lockdown, with as many as 300 people traversing it each weekend.

He said he had never felt the need to erect signage warning about the cows and calves, but took other precautions such as only moving the herd at quiet times of day. After lockdown, a further review meant he decided to no longer keep any new cows in the bottom field, despite it offering the best grazing.

Questioned about whether it would be feasible to erect a fence around the bridleway or apply for the public right of way to be diverted, Mr Sharpe said it would be impractical to fence the path off due to the fact that there is a beck in the field and three other footpaths that all intersect.

He also gave an account of the impact the incident has had on his business. The partnership with his father and wife now sustains a £20,000 loss per annum due to the fact that the suckler herd has been moved to a poorer grazing area and sheep put in the bottom field instead. He intends to reduce the herd to 30 animals because the land is no longer able to support 45. He confirmed that warning signs had now been provided, and that the herd's new field does not have any paths running through it.

After the jury returned a narrative conclusion, assistant coroner for North Yorkshire John Broadbridge said: "It is a well established risk that cows with calves are protective of them and that they see dogs as a danger. Cattle are not domesticated animals, they are to some extent wild and unpredictable.

"There are organisations such as the Health and Safety Executive and the NFU which make recommendations about dogs and the consensus is that where possible, farmers should prevent cows being kept in areas that are crossed by paths but they also recognise that it is not always practical and possible for a business to do so.

"Dogs should always be released in such a situation, not picked up, and they should be kept under effective control on a lead before entering a field with cattle. Cows are a well-known and publicised risk around dogs."