Bull Attack 12 November 2010 Collated Court Reports

Bull attack 12 November 2010 – Collated court reports

21/8/13 Nottm Magistrates bailed Paul Waterfall of Underhill Farm, Stanford on Soar to appear before Nottingham Crown Court on 4 September (subsequently postponed) on a charge of gross negligence manslaughter. No-one from the Ramblers attended this hearing.

6/9/13 Preliminary hearing before HH Judge Michael Stokes at Nottingham Crown Court. Alan Wilson attended on behalf of the Ramblers.

The judge was clearly irritated by the length of time it had taken to reach this stage and vented his anger on the prosecuting counsel. The judge was also angry with the CPS for putting out a press release prior to the magistrates hearing:he said that he had spoken to the DPP about this. Having calmed down a bit it was agreed that the full statement of case would be submitted by the Crownby 31 October at the latest and for the defence by 29 November at the latest. The prosecuting counsel said that they would be using two expert witnesses, one to address breed issues, the other to address cattle management. The defence said that they would also be calling one or two expert witnesses, but as they had only just seen the prosecution evidence this would take time to fix. The judge set a date of 16 December for a pre-trial case management hearing, but warned that this may not be held in Nottingham. He also set a date for the trial itself, which will take place before a jury in the High Court with a start date of 7 April 2014, an adjournment over Easter and a target completion date of 5 May 2014. One reason given for the delay was the availability of Roger Freeman’s widow Glynis, who will be abroad until the end of March. The judge mentioned that a larger than usual jury panel would be required because the trial straddled Easter. The prosecution said that they would object to defendants being empanelled and defence counsel said the same of ramblers.

During the proceedings there was some airing of the events leading up to the fatal incident of 12November 2010.Two previous occasions of ‘bull-like’ behaviour were noted, affecting power-line workers on the night of 1 October and a further one (not clear who was involved) on 26 October at 8.30am. The judge seemed dismissive of the first incident as it was in the dark with powerful lights being used to effect a repair to a power line. It was said that the animal in question was around 18 months old and was with a herd of heifers.

16/12/13 Pre-trial case management hearing held at Nottingham Crown Court. Trial set to be heard in Nottingham commencing of 7 April 2014. No-one from the Ramblers attended this.

7/4/14 Day 1.Alan Wilson attended in the afternoon on behalf of the Ramblers.
Case being heard by HH Judge Gregory Dickinson with Andrew McGee QC appearing for the Crown and Martin Meeke QC plus junior counsel for the defence. The jury was sworn in at the morning session: two alternates were also selected in view of the expected length of the trial.

In the afternoon the Crown outlined their case: the fatal incident occurred in the late afternoon of Friday 12 Nov 2010. Roger and Glynis Freeman were walking south on Stanton on Soar FP3 from Leake Lane diagonally across a grazing field. Roger was knocked down and trampled by what is presumed to be the Brown Swiss bull called Zac, which was in the field with about 60 heifers. Glynis was very badly injured trying to help her husband and eventually escaped from the field over the stile at the south end of that section of the path. She then made her way east along the hedgerow back on to Leake Lane and was eventually able summon help from a passing motorist Helen Naylor. Police and ambulance then attended but it was some time before they could safely enter the field and reach Mr Freeman’s body.

Prior to the fatal incident, on the night of 1 October 2010, two Central Networks (CN) engineers, Robert Smith and Chris Robinson were confronted by what they thought was a bull. One of them thought he had escaped through a hedge but the bull made its way round to the adjacent field and attacked again. In the meantime the other engineer had made his way out of the field to the road and came into the adjacent field to assist his colleague. They both ended up trapped in a ditch with an electric fence keeping the bull at bay. They called their network control centre, which contacted the defendant who came out to rescue them with a telescopic loader. The engineers escaped by climbing into the bucket of the loader direct from the ditch. They were transported to a gate onto Leake Lane where a third member of the CN team opened the gate so that the loader could exit before any cattle got through. (A similar sized herd of heifers were with the bull and had come around with him from ‘footpath field’ to the adjacent ‘home field’.) The CN personnel were at the farm to operate a switch on an 11kV circuit to isolate a fault on a nearby farm.The switch was on a power line pole in the footpath field close to the hedge separating it from home field. The circuit was isolated the following night without further incident as the cattle were not in footpath field.

A further incident occurred on the morning of 26 October 2010 when Richard Page of CN attended to re-energise the circuit. He was confronted by what he considered to be a herd of heifers and a bull about ten metres away from him, but was able to escape when the bull turned its attention to one of the heifers and mounted it. Mr Page contacted the farm and someone cleared the cattle from the field so that Mr Page could operate the switch.

We were told that Paul Waterfall, the defendant, has been the tenant at Underhill Farm for 10 years. At the time he had two bulls, a Brown Swiss and a Hereford. The latter was kept permanently in a barn.

8/4/14 Day 2.Alan Wilson attended for the Ramblers.
The court was in chambers until 11.15am. One juror was unavailable so one of the two alternates was sworn in and the other alternate discharged. Glynis Freeman then gave evidence over a video link (although she has been in the public gallery subsequently). The first part of her evidence comprised a DVD recording of a police interview carried out at her home on 10 January 2011 after she had been discharged from hospital. The recording was about 90 minutes long. She described their planned two day walk from Nottingham to Leicester via Loughborough:they had travelled by bus from Leicester to Nottingham the day before and stayed overnight at a hotel in the city. They had breakfast at a supermarket on the way south (most likely Asda in West Bridgford). Towards the end of the day they turned off Leake Lane onto FP3. They saw black & white cows in the field and a brown bull. They carried on walking along the path and the cattle seemed to be following them. Glynis was ahead when she heard a kind of oomph noise from behind. She turned round and saw Roger on the ground with the bull standing over him. She said that the bull had horns and was attacking Roger. The other cattle were in an agitated state and were ‘swishing around’. Glynis tried to help Roger but was getting injured herself. He told her to try and get away to get help. She made it to the stile, getting over it with difficulty and then along the hedge to the road, which was separated from her by a ditch. She managed to get down into the ditch and then crawl out to the roadside. After about a dozen attempts she managed to persuade a car to stop. Glynis survived the incident with a bruised heart, damaged kidney, removal of her spleen, leg trauma, seven broken ribs and a broken wrist. Glynis said that she and her husband had been walking since their teens and had walked extensively, including Hadrian’s Wall and in Scotland. Mrs Freeman was then cross-examined (over the video link) by Mr Meeke. This focused on the horns, which the bull in question does not have.

After this Sergeant Meredith, PCs Coot, Inglis, Van der Veldt and Billan, who were some of the initial police responders, gave evidence (PC Warwick, also part of the initial response, gave evidence later). Sgt Meredith declared a Major Incident and SOCOs attended. PC Coot reported that the defendant said that the bull should not have been in that field. (It subsequently transpired that this comment was allegedly about his grazing plans, rather than any reference to being in a field with a right of way running through.) Finally Jane Baines of Notts County Council RoW team gave evidence of the existence of FP3 as a right of way (since 1957).

10/4/14 Day3.Alan Wilson attended for the Ramblers.
Evidence from Robert Smith of CN, a Project Manager with responsibility for safety issues (amongst other things). He, Chris Robinson and others were attending to an 11kV conductor fault at Harts Farm, Hoton. At about 11pm on 1 October he and Chris arrived at Underhill Farm to isolate the faulty circuit. They entered footpath field under the impression that there were no cattle in there, having shone their powerful torches over the field. When they reached the switch pole (about 100 metres from the gate) they heard what they thought was a bull bellowing and saw in the torchlight the cattle sitting and the bull standing about 40m away. The bull came towards them and Robert shone his torch in the bull’s eyes while Chris used the switching rod (about 2.4 metres long) to fend the bull off. The bull drove Chris back into the hawthorn hedge (and single strand barbed wire fence). He somehow managed to get over the barbed wire and through the fence to the next field. Robert switched his torch off and tried to make his escape back the way they had come. Half way back the bull and about a dozen heifers chased him. He turned and shone his torch and Chris made a lot of noise to distract the cattle. With this Robert was able to get over the gate back onto Leake Lane. He then went up the lane to the gate into the adjacent field to link up with Chris again. He got across the field to where Chris was hiding in a ditch: Robert rapidly got in the ditch with him when it became apparent that the bull was attacking them again. Once in the ditch Robert got on the phone to Mathew Burgess at CN network control. An audio recording of this call was played with the bull’s bellowing clearly heard.Robert said that the bull was joined by many cattle who were also in a very agitated state. Burgess then phoned the defendant and told him that two people were trapped in a ditch under attack. Darren Rose of CN was also called to the scene and arrived on Leake Lane. Robert described the rescue in the loader and said that the defendant said that ‘Zac was aggressive and kept ramblers on their toes’ once they had exited the field. Chris and Darren were present during this conversation but were unable to corroborate it. Robert asked the defendant for contact details to make sure that the bull wasn’t in the footpath field the following day so that the switch could be operated safely. Defence questioned the absence of notice given of their attendance at Underhill Farm. It was said that this was not the policy for emergency work. (It subsequently transpired that notice should be given ‘as soon as practicable’ even for emergency work.) Defence also questioned the description given of the bull having horns (which it didn’t). Defence counsel pushed the fact that Robert’s recollection of the conversation with the defendant was very hazy. The court then heard evidence from Chris Robinson. He had no recollection of the conversation between Robert smith and the defendant, but did make a statement on 18 May 2011 saying the bull was lively and it was agreed that the bull and cows would be locked up the following morning so that the circuit could be isolated. On 30 November 2010 Nigel Spalding (CN) gave a statement that on 2October the defendant or one of his staff told him that Zac was dangerous and that he was frightened of that bull. Mr Spalding did not give evidence in person as it was dismissed as hearsay.

11/4/14 Day 4. No-one from the Ramblers in attendance, but it is known that Darren Rose (the third CN person on 1 October) gave evidence. The Nottingham Post reported thus:

He told the trial at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday: ‘He [the defendant] said he'd heard the bull from the bedroom. The defendant said 'leave me to it; I'm going to go down the lane into the field'. He did exactly that. ‘When he came back out, he was driving his tractor and had a scoop on the front and in the bucket there was Robert and Chris [his colleagues] sat in the front.’ Mr Rose said the defendant was looking for the bull because that was the ‘main culprit’. Mr Rose said: ‘It was an angry bull, because I could see the steam it was blowing through its nostrils. It was showing its teeth. I think it had small horns or stubs.’ He claimed the defendant said it was a ‘problem bull’ and he could not go into the enclosure with it.

Also Richard Page of Central Networks (26 October incident) and two previous owners of Zac gave evidence, but this wasn’t reported.

14/4/14 Day 5. Jeremy Colls attended for the Ramblers.

Jury have requested a site visit. (This took place on Tuesday 22 April.) Morning session: Mr Dobbs, expert veterinary witness for the prosecution, was led through various aspects of cattle management: breeds, de-horning, head poll, aggressive tendencies. All designed to show that dairy bulls are not normally left accessible to people because of their propensity to aggressive behaviour. Also some examination of farm records designed to cast doubt on the number of heifers present on the farm at the time of the incident, and whether they had horns. In the afternoon the defence tried hard to undermine Dobbs, but he did well rebutting. Defence then wanted to show two videos to the jury in camera, but apparently there was a glitch, and they will try again tomorrow. Regarding the 1 October event,the defence try to show Zac hadn't been aggressive. 26 Oct, again the defence try to show that Zac hadn't been aggressive.

15/4/14 Day 6.Alan Wilson attended for the Ramblers.

The press bench was deserted all day. Examination and cross examination of Mr Dobbs continued and a single video was shown of a herd of heifers with a couple of bulls. This didn't seem to add any value. Dobbs was clear that all dairy bulls should be penned for safety reasons. Next Andrew Marshall a dairy farmer and expert ruminant consultant was called for the prosecution. He was adamant that Brown Swiss is now (and was in 2010) a dairy breed. In his words "you just don't put dairy bulls in a field:full stop." He went on to say that he meant any field, whether or not it had a public RoW on it.

Examination and cross examination of Mr Marshall continued in the afternoon. Problems arose because it has just become apparent that the farmer's cattle records are on his computer at the farm and have not been made available to the expert witnesses and the jury. It is hoped that something can be sorted out over the Easter recess!

16/4/14 Day 7. Jeremy Colls attended for the Ramblers.

Judge commented on two misinformed letters that Daily Mail published yesterday concerning the case. He's going to write to editor that this is inappropriate for an ongoing case. Short discussion on the farm records and the colours of the herd animals. Still an issue whether Zac had been correctly identified. Mr Marshall. The defence tried to get him to say bulls often weren't penned but he resisted. Said he had never known of a dairy bull being kept in a field, whether with or without a FP. Dr Antony Andrews (AA) for the defence,veterinary specialist in animal health and production:the defence used him to confirm that cattle are normally docile and inquisitive. Only aggressive in response to specific circumstances. Previous cattle attacks had always involved dogs or calves. Press left at 11.45.Common for farmers to run sweeper bulls to make sure all cows got pregnant and milk yield max. Waterfall was using a Brown Swiss to get more solids in the milk because milk was going for stilton production. Said if the animal really did have horns as asserted by witnesses, then it couldn't have been Zac. 12 Nov. AA thought something had upset the herd before Freemans had entered the field. Cattle were still agitated when Waterfall arrived in the field, and when slaughterman came. But Zac was calm.Defence then questioned AA. Got AA to admit bulls more aggressive than cows. Aggression could mean just posturing, distinct from an attack. Rather laboured Q&A session on a number of other points but nothing major arose. AA confirmed that he thought Zac was not the culpable animal.New man on the press bench for half hour after lunch.McGee pressed AA to agree that Zac was at least suspected of being aggressive after 1 Oct, and hence should not have been kept in a field with public access. AA would not agree that the three incidents were all due to the same animal.End of session 16.15. Next session 10.30.