Northumberland farm firm fined over Marian Clode cow death

A farming company has been fined £72,500 after a teacher on holiday was killed by a runaway cow.

Marian Clode, 61, was charged at and flipped over a fence as she walked along a path in Northumberland in 2016.

Newcastle Crown Court heard cows were being moved along a bridleway when several with calves escaped.

JM Nixon and Son admitted failing to ensure the safety of a non-employee and Mrs Clode's death was described as an avoidable tragedy.

The primary school teacher from Ashton-under-Lyne, in Greater Manchester, had been staying at Swinhoe Farm near Belford with her family for the Easter holidays in April 2016.

Run by JM Nixon and Son, the farm had 140 suckling beef cattle as well as several holiday cottages and a riding school.

On 3 April, the Clode family were walking along a bridleway when they came across the escaped cattle shortly before 15:00 BST, the court heard.

Mrs Clode's family, including her young grandchildren, climbed over a barbed wire fence, but Mrs Clode, who was at the front of the group, was tossed over a gate by one of the cows.

His Honour Judge (HHJ) Tim Gittins said she was "simply not in a position to take any evasive action" and "no fault attaches" to her.

Mrs Clode, who was originally from Londonderry in Northern Ireland, died three days later in a Newcastle hospital.

The judge said her life was "priceless" and her "untimely death" was "devastating and incalculable".

He said she was a fit and active woman who was "well-regarded" as a teacher and much-loved by all who knew her.

The court heard the cows were being turned out from two large winter sheds to summer grazing fields by farmer Alistair Nixon and two experienced stockmen.

As the large herd was being gathered in the farmyard, a group of seven or eight cows with five or six calves escaped past Mr Nixon and disappeared over the brow of the hill.

The judge said Mr Nixon, who had used the same method of moving cattle without incident since the 1990s, made the "conscious decision not to do anything about that escape even when they had gone out of sight".

Mr Nixon assumed the cows would either return or stop to graze on grass verges but that "supposition... was proved to be fundamentally and fatally wrong".

The judge described the bridleway as a popular route close to the Northumberland Coast path and said the farmers should have known of the risks to walkers, especially on a weekend afternoon at the end of school holidays.

He said the experienced stockmen also "would and should have known of the unpredictability of cattle at any time, and more so at the turnout out [after winter] with their calves".

The judge said the cause of the cows' flight would never be known but it appeared to be "most likely an urge to seek fresh pasture, the press of those at the front and presence of or separation from calves".

He said it was a "stark and salutary lesson to herdsmen", adding: "It was a tragedy that could and should have been avoided."

The judge said the farm had made several changes, including the use of signage to warn the public of cattle movements and only moving the herd in smaller numbers.

He also ordered JM Nixon and Son to pay £34,700 in court costs, with full payment of all the sums to be made within a year.

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