David Clark, a 59-year-old former teacher, was killed while crossing the right of way through a field in North Yorkshire on 21 September 2020 with his two dogs.
Clark was surrounded by a numbers of cows and then struck to the ground, with witnesses reporting that one of the cows then turned back and ran towards him, causing a fatal blow to his chest.
The father-of-three was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Andrew and David Turnbull had failed to offer and display signs of an alternative route to a public right of way in their field in the Coalsgarth Valley.
The brothers, both of Low Gingerfield Farm, Richmond, North Yorkshire, both pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
At Teesside Crown Court on 3 March 2025, Andrew Turnbull was fined £1,589 and ordered to pay £1,500 in costs, while David Turnbull was fined £1,390 and ordered to pay £1,500 in costs.
HSE guidance offers a number of practicable ways that farmers, landowners and livestock keepers can control the hazards for walkers when keeping cattle in fields that the public can access.
These include properly assessing the risks posed by cattle to users of public footpaths and implementing suitable protective and preventative measures to minimise those risks.
“Andrew and David Turnbull failed to do all that was reasonably practicable to prevent members of the public being put at risk by their cattle,” said HSE inspector Elliot Archer.
“Farmers, landowners and other livestock keepers need to be aware of the risk their cattle pose to members of the public and take suitable protective and preventative measures to mitigate that risk.”
This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Iain Jordan and supported by paralegal officer Rebecca Withell.
