Trampled farmer dies in hospital

A farmer who was trampled by his herd of cows after they stampeded when a fire engine siren apparently startled them has died in hospital.

Harold Lee, 75, was moving 100 cows from Robins Farm in Burtle, Somerset, with his son Richard when a fire engine answering a 999 call approached them.

Mr Lee suffered chest and head injuries in the incident.

He was airlifted to the Royal United Hospital in Bath before being transferred to Frenchay Hospital.

Richard Lee, 42, said he was leading the herd along the B-road to the milking parlour on 11 August when the cows stampeded back towards their field.

An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said the incident was being investigated and the possibility the cows were frightened by a fire engine was one line of inquiry.

In June, Liz Crowsley, 49, from Warrington, was trampled to death by cows as she walked her dogs near Hawes, in the Yorkshire Dales.

Two weeks earlier, former Home Secretary David Blunkett was injured by a charging cow as he was out walking with his guide dog Sadie in the Peak District in Derbyshire.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has warned cases of potentially-deadly stampeding cattle unwittingly spooked by dog walkers were almost certainly set to rise.