Commiserations for the run in. It's very useful to have a map showing ROW, and even more so a phone showing such maps and your position on it.
However, I have also frequently been in the position of being on a right of way, and the landowner refuses to look a my documentation. It's also frightening the number of paths where the fingers on the pole, as well as the pole have disappeared. This seems to be more so with the modern wooden variety where the landowner can simply t**t off the sign with a mallet, on the assumption the footpath user, if he finds the footpath thinks it's rotted and has fallen off.