A telecoms worker died after being trampled by cows during a pandemic walk he had done with his wife in Netherton, West Yorkshire, an inquest has heard. Michael Holmes, 57, suffered 35 rib fractures and lacerations to his heart, while his wife Teresa was Paralysed, reported The Guardian.
Holmes and her husband had been childhood sweethearts and had been married for 34 years. They used to take daily walks for half an hour on the same route together while working from home during the pandemic, Holmes told the inquest, according to the media house
On 29 September 2020, the couple along with their daughters two dogs entered a field at JA Mitchell & sons’ farm and were walking up a steep path when a herd of cows with their calves approached the couple from behind and "accelerated." The incident was caught in a CCTV camera installed close to the farm.
Michael Holmes sustained fatal chest injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, while Teresa spent six months in hospital after suffering a spinal cord injury and fractured ribs, reported The Guardian.
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The mother who has two daughters told the inquest she had no memory of the incident after she woke up in hospital weeks later.
"It was a very, very traumatic time, quite isolating,” she said. “I was just really confused, I couldn’t work out why I was there and my daughters eventually had to explain they had lost their dad," she told the inquest.
The two dogs managed to escape and were found by a neighbour near the Holmes’s home, it was said.
Holmes told the inquest she and and her husband had been in the same field many times and were aware it “sometimes” had cattle in, but they did not see them on that day due to the steep hill.