A SHEEP farmer in New Zealand was at the centre of an ownership riddle today over a notorious beauty spot.The confusion was revealed as a pledge was made to tighten up safety at the valley nicknamed Dead Man's Drop. Jeremy James Dearden is Lord of the Manor of Rochdale and owns much of the town's common land - though he has spent all his life on the other side of the world.Inquiries were continuing today into whether the absentee landowner owns part of Heywood's treacherous Ashworth Valley. Campaigners for safety improvements at the ravine were celebrating after health and safety watchdogs stepped in following a Manchester Evening News campaign.The Health and Safety Executive has confirmed it will work with Rochdale council to ''implement guidelines'' on public safety at the valley, where 12 people have fallen since Scout Scott Fanning plunged to his death two years ago.Kelly Moores, whose partner and daughter, John and Clarece Maher, nearly lost their lives in a 60ft plunge, today welcomed the news as she spoke of the drama for the first time. From her six-year-old daughter's bedside at Booth Hall Children's Hospital, she said: ''We are a very lucky family. I would hate any other family to suffer like this, but we seem to have come through it.''Ms Moores told how she nearly lost her family because she chose to visit the beauty spot instead of Bolton Baths for a family day out. She added: ''All I can really remember is Clarece screaming as she fell and John going after her, the next second I was screaming for help.''Ms Moores said that doctors were amazed Clarece escaped without a single broken bone. She is now recovering from a bruised spleen and she and her dad have head injuries.The local Dearden family bought the common land of Rochdale and the Lord of the Manor title from the poet Lord Byron shortly after his death in 1824 at the age of 36. Jeremy Dearden, who is in his 30s, could not be contacted today, but his agent, Peter Jackson, was looking into his possible part-ownership of Ashworth Valley. Mr Jackson said he was not sure which sections of the valley Mr Dearden owned, but he would welcome any improvements.The news came just 48 hours after an inquest revealed that distraught father Alan Fanning, 37, killed himself in a desperate cry for help after his 11-year-old son Scott was killed at the beauty spot.
