Farmer fired shots over my head, what if anything can I do?

[unexpectedplaces]

Can I ask if anyone knows if this is illegal or not in relation to a right of way across a farmers' land?

To explain what happened and give context. I was walking my dog through a field full of sheep and lambs, dog was at my heel the whole time (no issue whatsoever with the livestock) and we were then away from the sheep and heading for a kissing gate which is where the right of way footpath leads. It crosses a small field and ends up in a village, you can also veer to the left of the kissing gate and continue through the same field ending up at the same point near the village.

I elected to take the left hand path which is about 2 feet away from the official path but divided by a hedge because the small field with the footpath was full of sheep and lambs resting by the gate - I didn't want to disturb them.

I was walking into the sunlight so couldn't see properly but could just about make out a figure a short distance away, a shot was fired into the air followed by 3 more as I walked the length of the hedge. I was really quite worried and hurried through the gate at the end whereupon the shots stopped.

I believe that the gun was either a rifle or a shotgun as the report was pretty loud.

I appreciate that I was off the official footpath strictly speaking but was doing so for purely altruistic reasons (of course he didn't know that).

Should I take this further or was the farmer within his rights? I wish he had just approached me and I could have explained what I was doing and why. The whole incident was pretty unnerving if I'm honest.

Have spoken to a couple of locals who say that the farmer is well known for getting irate about people walking off the right of way.

Any advice please gratefully received

TheChandler - the screengrab you talk so derisively of is of the BASC guidelines which are based on regulations. Sadly as it is a PDF I cannot copy and paste it. It is available to view online basc.org.uk/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=49 .

Whilst you insist I provide evidence, no sorry, case law, for every statement I make, it seems you make sweeping statements with no factual basis. You state he had no reason to be shooting across her path - no he didn't, but there is no evidence that he did. There is no evidence that the farmer was shooting to warn her off either.

OP - I'm not being obtuse. I can see how you have jumped to the conclusions that you have, I am just trying to demontrate that they may well be baseless. I was a little horrified earlier at all the shouts of 'how dare he' and 'he deserves his licence taken away' - it was like mob rule and no one was actually illustrating that there could be a valid reason for him shooting.

I just feel it is wrong to make assumptions about people and sully their name in a small town where everyone talks, when there aren't actually any facts behind it. Instead of getting the police involved, why not just knock on his door and say that you were intimidated by him shooting near to where you were walking your dog. You never know you might make an ally?

I have to admit I am a bit sore about walkers at the minute as the day before yesterday walkers left two gates open there were styles next to the first but they chose not to use it and the second gate wasn't on the footpath and my foal got out and headed for the main road and then took a detour onto the local golf club landing me with a bill for £500 for green repairs, not to mention that my foal was distressed. We have a problem where I am with walkers feeling they can go wherever they want and no one is allowed to get cross about it. I even found a family picknicking in my garden. I'm not suggesting you are like this but recent events have made me see red mist.

I hope you are able to reach an amicable conclusion - I would hate for you to ruin relations with someone whomyou may have to see every time you walk your dog. I really do hope it is a misunderstanding.

I miss GetOrf.

AuntieDee please do not for one moment suggest or conclude that I have sullied anybody's name. My DH knows and my closest friend knows - that is it. I wouldn't dream of telling anyone else. My close friend is also the parish clerk which is how I know who the landowner is and the name of the PCSO. I am very discreet. Heck I even name changed for this so that no-one could link me to the real me.

I have had horses and dogs all my life and do find it quite upsetting that posters think I would take something like this lightly but I haven't jumped to any conclusions as I thought I'd made obvious on umpteen occasions throughout the thread.

My DH forbade me from going anywhere near him - he is quite strange, lives alone, I said before that his house could be worth millions but has been let to go to ruin. He rattles around in it on his own, I don't think that he would want to speak to me although I would be more than happy to if I was accompanied by the PCSO.

I wanted for the community policewoman to just see him, tell him why I went off the path (to avoid the sheep) but to say if he did do what he did that it was frightening and unnecessary that is it in a nutshell.

I'm really sorry re your foal, I've bred foals myself and know how precious they are. Hope all ok now and of course you are more than entitled to get very cross about such an incident.

Exit I miss GetOrf enormously too . I always think of her when I see that By Terry foundation advertised!!

AuntiDee TheChandler - the screengrab you talk so derisively of is of the BASC guidelines which are based on regulations.

All legislation in the UK is available online at HMSO, free of charge. Guidelines are of persuasive value at best, which is why I asked you to mention case law or legislation, so you could avoid sweeping statements with no factual basis. for example I just feel it is wrong to make assumptions about people and sully their name in a small town where everyone talks, when there aren't actually any facts behind it.

I think actually the problem is that a few people living very rurally, working alone all their lives, can develop a dislike of other people, which is fine when they don't have a shotgun in their hands. I don't trust your judgment, because you seem a bit unbalanced, but even so I don't get the impression you would shoot in the direction of walkers who were annoying you. The consequences are so serious - that's why people are talking of involving the police. If this chap really has done nothing wrong, then no harm will come of it, he might get some good friendly advice. But in no way would I go up and knock on his door!

Likewise, theres a nutty woman where I used to live who sits at home all day admiring her views and shouting and ranting at anyone she sees in the far distance, walking carefully along field boundaries next to fences so as not to damage crops, commanding them to "come over" so she can lecture them. Everyone ignores her, despite her increasingly frantic threats as its in Scotland, with the right to roam. Her problem is that she is unsocialised, not the local population.

By the way, how on earth did your presumably very young foal get separated from its dam and how did you get a £500 bill within only 3 days of its happening? If your second gate wasn't on the footpath, it should have been padlocked, especially if it allows eventual road access. Its the risk you take when you buy a property with public footpaths running through it - double fence if possible but certainly padlock all your gates!

TheChandler - Anecdotes again - why don't you quote case law to refute me as you suggest I do rather than stories and name calling?

The gate - it is a new gate, adjacent to a style on a footpath and was installed when field boundaries were changed in a property sale. Planning required that it is 'accessible with regard to people with disabilities' to paraphrase the planning office. I am not permitted to lock the gate.

The foal is weaned and as a horsey person you would know that not all foals are sucking at dam until they become yearlings.

OP - sorry to derail the thread yet again. Not quite sure why there is a need to question my animal husbandry skills...

I hope you reach a satisfactory conclusion to this and feel less threatened when walking your dog.

That's ok, I don't own it and always interesting to have an excuse not to do the ironing hear of other people's experiences

Ha ha an excuse not to do the ironing is a great one. I do all the 'pink' jobs in our house but I don't mind as my Oh does all the washing and ironing and empties my wheelbarrow when I overload it :) I hate hate hate ironing!

I should have been sleeping after doing a 12 hour night shift. I'll manage another 12 hour night shift after only 5 hours sleep won't I??

I'm only ironing because we're going on holiday, I think the last time may well have been before Christmas .

5 hours sleep? eeekk!!

OP you have the patience of Mother Teresa.

aunty do you think the op shouldn't report this to the police?

It's been a challenge at times fake !

aunty do you think the op shouldn't report this to the police?

I personally, wouldn't if I was in that situation. The farmer was shooting on his own land, there is no evidence of any crime only the OP being suspicious. The farmer is within his rights to shoot on his own land. I personally would have shouted something along the lines of 'Can you hang on a sec until I get clear' if I had been worried at all - then there would have been no doubt.

I honestly cannot see the issue at all.

OP - please have a little more patience. Did the farmer actually point the gun in your direction?

So, shots were fired that the op thinks may have meant to scare her off and she should not report this to the police allowing then to investigate because she cannot prove this was the case. Do you apply this approach to all suspicions of wrong doing, that nothing should be reported to the police unless absolute prove is available, or does it just apply to men with guns?

AuntyDee The foal is weaned and as a horsey person you would know that not all foals are sucking at dam until they become yearlings.

Well, since it will have for all intents and purposes have become a yearling on 1st January this year and unless it was a very late foal (not a good idea) its well on its way to becoming a yearling by any other measure, that would be a yearling, not a foal. But don't let hyperbole get in the way of accuracy, in your mission to claim your superiority on every subject under the sun.

OP - sorry to derail the thread yet again. Not quite sure why there is a need to question my animal husbandry skills...

Possibly because your animals get loose and rampage over golf courses and near roads?

TheChandler - Anecdotes again - why don't you quote case law to refute me as you suggest I do rather than stories and name calling?

I did - the Tony Martin case. If you think I'm going to spend my time trawling through case law for your benefit, you've got another think coming.

OP - hope the PCSO gets back to you on twit-farmer. I have very little goodwill for people that endanger my life.

Unexpected you have the patience of a fecking saint.

I have had a dog perfectly safe to walk off lead through anything, but tended not to just in case, but I see you have already come to that conclusion, it's far more about other people than the dog.

You sound eminently sensible, I hope your future dog walking escapades are happily gun shot free.

Unexpected you have the patience of a fecking saint.

I have had a dog that could be walked off lead through anything, but I tended not to just in case, but I see you have already come to that conclusion. It's more about other people than the dog.

You sound eminently sensible, I hope your future dog walking escapades prove to be happily gun shot free.

Back again, sorry evening out I needed a drink

Auntie no didn't see where the gun was pointed, shots just sounded like they were going up.

My 3 reasons for suspicion that it wasn't just a crow scarer or far off rabbit shooting are as follows:-

1. Farmer standing in corner of field
2. Shots going off close by just whilst I was on the forbidden side of the hedge
3. Subsequent information on farmer unearthed

If any one of those things hadn't occurred then I possibly would have just shrugged the whole thing off

Gobblers thank you, I have been channelling Mother Theresa since Saturday night .

I thought you couldnt see who it was though? Now you sound sure it was the farmer?

Well I think you were justified in your concern. No one should be firing shots in a field where a person is walking. My husband recently said to my son (who thinks he's the king of perfect shots) "Where is the most dangerous place for a gun to be kept? In the hands of a man who thinks he's a good shooter"

I don't live in the UK, I live in Brazil. People can walk all over our fields and frequently do, some major piss takers even bring their horses to graze and don't even get me started on gates. I would NEVER fire shots at ANYONE unless they were going to cause me or my family major harm. I find the idea of a farmer firing shots into the air, very very frightening and is not part of my version of rural life in this country, let alone in the UK!

OP apologies if you've already answered this, as I see you have had to repeat yourself many times on this thread. I have read ALL the way through and I can't find the answer - do you mean actual shot or blanks?

ps YAprobablyNBU and I bet your dog is cute

This thread is like some sort of parallel universe. Whether shots were fired over unexpecteds head or in the air it is not acceptable. Imagine if a local shop keeper fired shots overhead as he feared youths were shoplifting? They'd be a bloody outcry and rightly so

In terms of anecdotes one of my first Crown Court cases as a junior lawyer involved a farmer who stood at the end of a footpath holding a shotgun. No shots were fired but the judge found that the purpose of the farmer appearing with a shotgun was to intimidate walkers who were legitimately passing over his land.

On conviction the farmer escaped a jail sentence by the skin of his teeth and really only because he was of exceptionally good character.

simone if you gave me a suitcase with a million £'s in it I couldn't tell you if they were blanks or shots! They were just loud ! Dog is cute and much adored .

tomato that sounds awful, very frustrating to say the least.

Rino I saw the figure for a split second, in that split second the farmer's name came into my head, size, shape, general demeanour etc. When I described him to my friend she agreed that it was probably him given the description and alleged behaviour and she then told me that he owned that particular bit of land. I knew he lived in the house but not which particular bits of land he owned. The house is on the edge of the village in amongst a number of houses and a church so land could potential have been owned by a few people.

Mixed I agree! I also think if this happened in an urban setting you'd have the Flying Squad or whatever they are descending before you could say firearm! (Showing my age now thinking of The Sweeney back in the '80's )