News

£1.3m payout slashed

Published

10 years ago

June 7, 2016

“COWSHED CINDERELLA”, Eirian Davies, who won £1.3 million against her aging parents last year, has had the payout slashed to just £500,000 by the Court of Appeal.

The 47-year-old sued her mum and dad, claiming they promised her she would ultimately step into their shoes and take over the family’s thriving dairy farm.

Miss Davies spent a large part of 25 years milking the cows on Henllan Farm, Whitland, Dyfed, and tending its herd of pedigree Holstein cows.

She said she missed out on going to Young Farmers’ Club dances with her two sisters as a teenager because she had to “stay at home with a muck fork”.

Her parents, Tegwyn and Mary Davies, now in their 70s, denied they had treated her unfairly but were ordered to pay her £1.3 million by a judge.

Today, however, three senior judges in London ruled that was far too generous – and slashed Miss Davies’ award to £500,000. And Lords Justice Lewison, sitting with Lords Justice Patten and Underhill, gave her 12 months to leave the farm where she grew up.

After the court heard the farm had been “in lockdown” due to a TB outbreak, her parents were given time to come up with the cash they now owe their daughter.

A judge ruled two years ago that Miss Davies was due a stake in the 182-acre farm as fair recompense for the the years of lowpaid toil she put in.

She had told the court: “They always told me that the farm would be left to me.

“Even on my birthday, when the other girls were having things, they would say – ‘you will have the damn lot one day, it will all be yours’,” she said.

Her father would regularly warn her “not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg” if she complained about her meagre wages, she added.

She claimed she could have ‘made a better life elsewhere’, but her parents insisted that she earned a fair income, also receiving free ‘bed and board’ and other benefits.

Describing her as ‘a self-employed herdswoman’, they argued she would have done no better financially had she worked away from the farm. In 2009, Miss Davies, who had a passionate interest in pedigree milking cows, was shown her parents’ draft will, which left the lion’s share of the farm to her. However, the couple later made changes to their bequests and proposed placing the farm in trust for the benefit of all three of their daughters equally.

The family feud finally hit court after an “altercation” in the milking parlour in 2012 and Mr and Mrs Davies tried, but failed, to evict their daughter from Henllan Farmhouse.

The Court of Appeal upheld her right to a stake in the farm and, in February last year, Judge Milwyn Jarman QC awarded her £1.3 million.

Attacking the decision, her parents’ QC, Simon Fancourt, said the payout was “hugely disproportionate”.

It was, argued the barrister, wrongly based on an assumption that Miss Davies legitimately expected to “inherit the whole lot” on her parents’ death.

Describing the dispute as “bitter” today, Lord Justice Lewison agreed that the award was over the top and cut it to £500,000.

The legal costs of the case are bound to come to a high, six-figure, sum, further depleting the family fortune.

Mr and Mrs Davies will have to pay the costs of earlier hearings, but their daughter must cover those run up in her parents’ successful appeal.

Crime

Man charged with strangulation and assault offences after October incident

Published

28 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Court Reporter

A MAN recorded in court as having no fixed abode has appeared before magistrates charged with intentional strangulation and two further assault offences.

Michael Sudbury, 50, whose address was not read out in court, but in Herald records is Glan Hafan, Llangwm, appeared before the bench facing multiple charges.

The charges relate to an incident on 22 October 2025 and include:

Intentional strangulation, contrary to section 75A of the Serious Crime Act 2015
Common assault
Assault by beating

No further details of the alleged incident were opened in court, and no plea was entered at this stage.

Sudbury was remanded on conditional bail, with the case listed to return to magistrates later this month.

Crime

Haverfordwest man sent to Crown Court on multiple serious charges

Published

50 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Court Reporter

Defendant remanded in custody

A HAVERFORDWEST man has been sent to Swansea Crown Court to stand trial on a series of A 49-year-old Haverfordwest resident has been committed to Swansea Crown Court to face trial on multiple serious charges deemed too grave for magistrates to handle.

David Guy, of Market Street, Haverfordwest, appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates facing a series of allegations stemming from a single case. The charges, which were not detailed in open court, include:

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH)
A second count of assault
Criminal damage
An additional allegation of interpersonal violence
A public order offence

Magistrates declined jurisdiction, determining that the matters exceeded their sentencing powers, and sent the case in its entirety to Swansea Crown Court.

Guy was remanded in custody pending his next appearance. The court register notes: “Sent to Crown Court for trial in custody – next hearing at Swansea Crown Court.”

A date for the initial Crown Court hearing will be set administratively. Guy will remain in custody until then.

The Pembrokeshire Herald will provide further updates as the case progresses in the Crown Court.

Crime

Castlemartin man back before magistrates over multiple alleged assaults

Published

56 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Court Reporter

Defendant remanded on conditional bail ahead of further hearing

A CASTLEMARTIN man has appeared repeatedly before magistrates this month over a string A 40-year-old man from Castlemartin has made repeated appearances before magistrates this month in connection with a series of serious alleged offences, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), intentional non-fatal strangulation, common assault, and criminal damage.

Anthony Alcock, of Pwll Street, Castlemartin, is facing six linked charges stemming from incidents said to have occurred earlier this year. These appear to relate to the same complainant in what is understood to be a single ongoing domestic abuse prosecution.

During recent administrative hearings at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court, Alcock did not enter pleas while matters of bail and case management were addressed.

Charges Include:

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH)
Intentional non-fatal strangulation
Common assault on a woman
Criminal damage in a domestic context
Additional assault allegations involving the same complainant
Breach of bail conditions

Alcock was initially granted conditional bail but was subsequently brought before the court on two occasions for alleged breaches. On those instances, magistrates remanded him in custody ahead of further hearings. He was later re-granted conditional bail, subject to strict conditions such as no contact with the complainant and exclusion from specified locations.

Magistrates have now declined jurisdiction, ruling that the case—particularly the more serious charges involving non-fatal strangulation—is too grave for summary trial. It has been committed to Swansea Crown Court for plea, trial, or sentencing.

No detailed evidence has been presented in open court at this preliminary stage. Alcock remains on conditional bail pending his next appearance at the Crown Court.