Man died after prolonged attack by cows, inquest told

A retired teacher was killed by cows which repeatedly attacked him after he was tossed into the air during a walk with his friend along Hadrian’s Wall, an inquest has heard.

Cattle with their calves charged at 72-year-old grandfather Malcolm Flynn, from Carlisle, and one of them kicked him in the head while he lay seriously injured, his fellow rambler Christopher Barkless told a hearing in Morpeth, Northumberland.

Mr Barkless had to climb a tree to escape and he called the emergency services but his longstanding friend could not be saved and died from chest injuries, the inquest heard.

It happened in a field at Thirlwall Castle Farm near Gilsland, close to the Cumbria and Northumberland border, on September 11 2020.

Mr Flynn, a father-of-two, was a member of the Ramblers’ Association and regularly walked with his friend Mr Barkless, and they were completing the Hadrian’s Wall route in sections.

The former chemistry teacher, who had been a manager with Northumbrian Water until he changed career in his 50s, had developed glaucoma which affected his eyesight and was troubled by arthritic pain in his foot.

He told the inquest: “I was not comfortable with that situation, they were not behaving in a manner that I would expect.”

He clarified, saying: “If you look in a cow’s eyes it will normally look away, it won’t stare you out.

“If it looks away, it will normally disperse.

“These cows were different.

“They didn’t demonstrate any intention of being fazed by the presence of two human beings, in fact they came forward to confront us.”

Mr Barkless said he told his friend he was changing course and turned his back only to hear a “tumultuous motion” as the cattle moved quickly towards Mr Flynn and he started to run away.

He lay injured on the ground and every time he moved after that, a cow would trample him, Mr Barkless said.

He rang 999 from a hawthorn tree and worried if he tried to help his stricken friend, the cows would change over Mr Flynn again.

When Mr Flynn made a final attempt to get up, a cow kicked him in the face, Mr Barkless said.

It was only when the air ambulance flew over, some 30 minutes after the first attack, that the cows dispersed in fright, Mr Barkless said, allowing him and other walkers in the area to try to help.

The medics on the air ambulance could not save him and he died at the scene.

Mr Flynn’s elder daughter Julia Proud wrote a pen portrait which said her father loved walking and the countryside.

She said: “The tragedy that happened is a bitter pill to swallow as it is something he had done so many times before and enjoyed.”

The coroner were told that one of the issue that they will consider during the five-day inquest was a previous incident involving cows at the farm almost exactly a year before, where two walkers were injured.

The inquest continues.