A British farmer killed his brother with a backhoe while trying to protect him from an aggressive cow

A farmer who was killed trying to protect his brother from an aggressive cow has been ruled an accident by an inquest.

ewi Owen Jones, 68, from Ty’n y Celyn, Llanfwrog, near Ruthin in Denbighshire, suffered a ruptured liver and serious abdominal injuries after his brother pinned him against a wall with a JCB backhoe.

Paramedics and a team from the regional ambulance had tried to save Mr Jones but he was pronounced dead on April 21, 2020 in the back of an ambulance.

A post-mortem later found Mr Jones suffered extensive internal bleeding from blunt force trauma in the accident.

His brother John Jones told the inquest, “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my brother and what happened.”

John had driven a backhoe known as a bobcat to haul a bale of straw into a special barn unit intended to house cows after they were born.

On examination, Mr Jones described how a Limousin crossbreed cow was kept in the unit and was aggressive towards him.

Mr Jones said: “Things then moved very quickly.

“The cow tried to go to Dewi to protect the calf and I moved the bobcat forward to protect Dewi by putting him between them.”

However, Dewi was caught behind the shovel of the excavator and pushed against a wall.

Dewi Owen Jones had managed to get out of the unit but collapsed outside in the yard shortly after.

John Jones told the inquiry that the two are close friends and business associates, having run the farm together for years.

Mr Jones also said he was an experienced Bobcat excavator operator and had driven it for seven years.

The inquest ruled it was a case of mishap or accidental death.