Dog walker is trampled by cow stampede in Dales

Ann Smith was airlifted to hospital with serious chest injuries after the cattle are thought to have become spooked and bolted while she was walking her dog in Redmire, near Leyburn in NorthYorkshire.

As she attempted to evade the livestock, Ms Smith became stuck in a cattle grid off the village's Church Street and had to be pulled free by members of the emergency services.

Ms Smith, 48, was yesterday in a "serious but stable" condition at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough, where she was taken by the Great North Air Ambulance after she was injured just before 4.30pm on Sunday.

A villager who was out walking his own dog saw the emergency services, including fire appliances from Reeth and Leyburn and officers from North Yorkshire Police, at the scene.

He said: "It was a real shock to find out what had happened. I only know the lady by sight, but it is awful to think what has happened to her." A spokeswoman for the Great North Air Ambulance, which was scrambled from its base at Durham Tees Valley Airport near Darlington just before 4.25pm, said Ms Smith was anaesthetised at the scene before she was flown to hospital.

She also confirmed that Ms Smith was continuing to be cared for in James Cook Hospital's intensive care unit.

The incident is the latest in a series in which walkers have been injured by livestock, including former Home Secretary David Blunkett.

The blind MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough suffered a broken rib when he was charged by a cow while walking his guide dog in the Peak District on his 62nd birthday last year.