A herd of cows tromped a father to death and paralysed his woman
as they walked their son’s two whippets during a lunch break in Netherton, West Yorkshire, an probe has heard.
Michael Holmes, a 57- time-old Telecoms worker, suffered 35 caricature fractures and incisions to his heart.
His widow, Teresa, who was knocked unconscious, suffered spinal fractures, spinal cord injuries and fractured caricatures, leaving her confined to a wheelchair and forced to take early withdrawal.
The couple were tromped 20 bases from the end of a public path in September 2020, a jury probe into Mr Holmes ’ death heard.
Mrs Holmes, who worked for children’s services at Leeds City Council, told court the couple would regularly walk the route during their lunch breaks as they worked from home during lockdown.
Air ambulance transferred to the scene
She said “ We set off just after 12 with the tykes . Both tykes were used to each other, and we had them both on fixed leads.
“ We were apprehensive that there were occasionally cattle on the field. relatively frequently, we’d come in the rear way to the field and we ’ve seen cattle and said we wo n’t go across the field. We ’d take a different route.
“ I do n’t flash back the incident, which is a good thing really because what happed must have been terrible. ”
She said because there were signs prompting canine trampers to keep their creatures on a lead, the couple allowed
it would be safe to take the tykes through the field.
But as they approached the end of the path, which is in the middle of the field, they were attacked by the cattle. Footage from a near CCTV camera, shown to the jury, captured the moment the cows “ accelerated ” towards the couple.
The tykes escaped the rush and ran off. They were set up, with their fixed leads on, by a neighbour who raised the alarm.
The court heard that an air ambulance was transferred to the scene, but nothing could be done to save Mr Holmes.
Speaking about her hubby, Mrs Holmes said “ He was a family man, he loved his family. His family meant everything to him. He’d a veritably dry sense of humour, and I do miss that. He’d his own unique wit. ”
