A Hitchin farmer, originally from Luton, died after being attacked by a bull, an inquest has heard.
Jamie Bottesch was 38 and from Luton but lived in Holwell near Hitchin and worked as a farmer who owned his own cattle business for the last three-and-a-half years. On August 8 last year Jamie and his father, James, were at their farm in Holwell when they realised their bull had escaped its enclosure.
As they were attempting to capture the animal and bring it back, the bull suddenly turned on the men and attacked them. Sadly, Jamie was pronounced dead at the scene.
An inquest into his death was held on February 27th Hertfordshire Coroner’s Court in Hatfield, according to the Hertfordshire Mercury .
At court, evidence was heard in the form of written statements, which were read aloud by Senior Coroner Geoffrey Sullivan. The first one came from PC Bird, an officer from Hertfordshire Constabulary, who described the events that night. The court heard how the father and son had been alerted to cows mooing and went outside to see what was going on. They soon discovered that the one bull Jamie owned, had escaped from its enclosure by jumping over a fence into the nearby field next to Bedford Road. The fence was damaged, so Jamie and James had planned to get the bull back into its enclosure before fixing it.
Jamie took a piece of metal sheeting with him and James took a rake, and they ventured into the field. As they were ushering the bull through the field and walking on the same side, it suddenly attacked them both. They were both “knocked down” and Jamie was “trampled” over.
James was able to run back to the farm, but he became “concerned that his son was still there”. He quickly rang 999 at around 10.06pm and officers and paramedics made their way to the scene. Before they could get to Jamie, they needed to ensure that the bull was “dispatched” so that it would not attack and harm any other people.
The decision was made to shoot the bull by firearms. After it was safe, officers rushed into the field to Jamie. Once they brought him to the paramedics at a safe location, he had unfortunately passed away.
