Farmer’s wife in family feud fined after her dog bites a policeman
A FEUD between a wealthy farmer’s son and his younger stepmother over inheritance has been exposed in court.
Police were called to Moat Hall Farm in the village of Marthall, near Knutsford, Cheshire, on Dec 6 after Adam Scott, 55, made a report arising from a long-running dispute with Jennifer Redgrave-scott, 53. She had married his widower father, Richard Scott, now 81, in 2015 following a 23-year courtship.
It was claimed in court that Adam Scott feared he would lose out on inheriting his father’s estate and had reported Mrs Redgrave-scott to police on various occasions.
Officers decided it was a civil issue, but as they went to leave, Mrs Redgrave-scott’s labrador/shar-pei cross, which had been tethered to a 65ft (20m) chain, pounced on Pc Simon Banks and dragged him to the ground. The officer suffered severe puncture wounds to his leg and struggled to walk. He later required a booster injection and stitches in hospital. Mrs Redgrave-scott had previously signed a “no biting” behavioural contract after the dog jumped up at guests staying at her B&B on the farm. The 10-year old animal has since been destroyed.
At Stockport magistrates’ court, Mrs Redgrave-scott, a mother of seven, wept as she admitted having a dog dangerously out of control. She was ordered to pay the injured officer £100 compensation, complete a 12-month community order, and abide by a nineweek curfew demanding she remain inside Moat Hall Farm from 9pm to 6am, seven days a week. She escaped disqualification from keeping dogs.
In mitigation, Angelo Saponiere said: “My client has had to maintain her employment and caring for her husband full time, whilst looking after a family. She runs a B&B with her eldest son and has seven children with her husband – but she has had a lot of trouble from her stepson Adam.
“On that day in question he called the police because work was being done on the farm that he wasn’t happy about. He has taken them to the social services, to the courts of protection, he has got the police involved on a number of occasions.
“It is my thinking that he wants some part of the inheritance. He is constantly calling the police trying to report them. She came back from walking the dog, chained him up and saw the police. In her own words they ‘frogmarched’ her into the living room, so she got distracted and couldn’t go back to the dog and put his muzzle on.”