THE owner of a Limpley Stoke farm is being prosecuted for failing to protect the public, after a man was trampled to death by a herd of cows.

Farmer Brian Godwin, 82, of Timothy Rise Farm, Winsley Hill, is being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive following the death of Anthony Michael Porter on May 5, 2013.

The father of two, from Edinburgh, died from internal bleeding in Elbow Field, Turleigh, after 30 cows encircled him, his brother John and their two dogs, knocked them down and stamped on them repeatedly.

Mr Godwin appeared at North West Wiltshire Magistrates’ Court in Chippenham on Monday after being charged with breaching his general duty of controlling his livestock.

He pleaded not guilty and elected to be tried by jury.

The preliminary hearing will take place at Swindon Crown Court on April 8.

An inquest into the death of Mr Porter, 66, who died with a hoof mark on his chest, last June heard from witnesses who said there had been four serious attacks on walkers between 2008 and 2013.

Nearby Wessex Water sewage works employee John Wall witnessed the attack. He said: “The cows were making a hell of a racket. I had my window down as it was a warm day, and the cows were going mad, basically.”

The jury concluded it was an accidental death, and recorded a narrative verdict, taking into account the number of previous incidents with cattle and the public, Health and Safety Executive involvement and lack of separation between the cattle and public.

At the inquest Mr Godwin refused to answer a question about whether he should have introduced more safety methods before Mr Porter died, such as moving cattle away from the public paths and installing temporary public footpath fences.

Afterwards Mr Porter’s family called for more measures to promote walker safety in the countryside.

Assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon Ian Singleton also announced he would make recommendations to the National Farmers’ Union, DEFRA, HSE and the Ramblers’ Association, who have until September to respond.

“Action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you have the power to take such action,” said Mr Singleton.

All the groups were given until September to respond to Mr Singleton’s request. The NFU, which has distributed 48,000 free signs to farmers providing safety advice to walkers around farm livestock, concluding that setting up fenced channels in the countryside away from cattle was not a universal solution.