Farmer's 'shock' that cow could have killed young dogwalker Rebekah Morris as he recalls scene

A farmer has spoken about his shock at hearing one of his family's cows was responsible for the death of a 29-year-old woman in Leicestershire.

Guy Hutton, who has worked on Warwick Bridge Farm with his father for 25 years, said the family always got rid of "snappy or nasty" animals.

The animals in the field in Littlethorpe, near Leicester, where Rebekah Morris died in July 2022, belonged to the Hutton family, the ongoing inquest at Leicester Town Hall heard on Tuesday.

Their cows had been grazing in the field in question, which has a public footpath through it, for about 25 years, the inquest heard.

He said there were 17 cows and one calf in the field at the time of Rebekah's death, but that the cattle "were used to the public".

He said: "Cows would move away from any person in the field. I have never known cattle to stampede."

Rebekah had been walking her dog, Zero, in the field off Warwick Lane when she was trampled to death late on Saturday, July 9, 2022.

Recalling the tragic scenes, Mr Hutton said that on the night Rebekah died he had been leaving the farm late at night when he saw torchlight in the field where Rebekah had already been found by her parents, who had been joined by friends in their search.

He said: "I thought that maybe there were children playing the field again.

"I saw a male running toward me across the field. He said, 'A girl has collapsed and I'm going to get an ambulance'."

Mr Hutton said he went to where Rebekah was lying on her back. He said: "She appeared pale and lifeless. I tried to assist with First Aid as chest compressions were being administered by a male at the scene.

"Her mother was kneeling to the left side holding her hand. The police and the ambulance service started to arrive."

He said a photograph Rebekah had taken and sent to her mother at 9pm - not long before her injuries were sustained - had been shot from a similar location to where she was found.

He told the inquest it was "some distance" from the public footpath.

Mr Hutton said he was convinced at first that another person must have attacked Rebekah and asked the police at the scene to go and check his farmyard in case the attacker was still nearby.

He said: "I was panicking that a human caused her harm - it didn't even cross my mind cattle could have caused her harm."

He said that at the time he arrived at the location of the incident, the animals were a good distance away from the people in the field, lying down calmly.

Two days later, the inquest heard, Mr Hutton was told by Leicestershire Police that the post-mortem examination had concluded a cow caused the injuries.

Mr Hutton said: "It was quite a shock for him to say that." The farmer also said that his own children, at the time aged 12 and 18, had always been allowed "to play safely around the animals".

He added that five days before Rebekah's death, he had called the police about two young trespassers in the field, who had strayed off the public footpath and that he had warned them to stay away from the cows, which are beef cattle owned by his brother, Mark.

He said: "Members of the public don't seem to understand this is private land."

But he said he did not think the incident, five days before Rebekah's death, had caused the cows to be "spooked" in a way that was relevant to what happened on July 6.

The inquest continues.

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