A BUSINESSWOMAN who sued a farmer after being attacked by his cows has won her six-year legal battle for damages.

Shirley McKaskie, 54, was left brain-damaged and confined to a wheelchair after being tossed around by the cows.

She was walking with her Jack Russell terrier puppy across fields to the pub in the village of Greystoke, near Penrith, Cumbria, when she was injured.

Ms McKaskie, who had moved to the village nine months earlier, used a public footpath to cut across a field where there were cows belonging to John Cameron, owner of Greyrigg Farm.

The cows had calves with them and may have reacted to the dog being in the field, Preston County Court was told during a hearing last year. Ms McKaskie was tossed around by the herd of 40 Simmental-cross beef cows, which included 21 calves. She suffered serious head injuries and remembers little of the incident, on May 10, 2003.

Ms McKaskie will receive an interim payment of £250,000, plus £100,000 costs, pending an appeal by the farmer.

She had made a £1m claim for damages but the final sum will be decided following any appeal and based on expert evidence about her injuries.