Farmer killed brother with digger as he tried to protect him from aggressive cow

The two brothers had run the farm in partnership and were close friends

The brother was killed having been threatened by an aggressive cow who had given birth that morning (British Simmental)

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

Dewi Owen Jones, 68, from Ty’n y Celyn, Llanfwrog, near Ruthin in Denbighshire, suffered a lacerated liver and severe abdominal injuries after his brother pinned him against a wall with a JCB digger.

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

A post mortem later revealed that Mr Jones suffered extensive internal bleeding in the accident, caused by blunt force trauma.

His brother John Jones told the inquest: “There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think about my brother and what happened.”

John had been driving a digger, known as a Bobcat, to transport a bale of straw into a special barn unit designed to hold cows after giving birth.

At the inquest, Mr Jones described how a Limousin-cross cow was being kept in the unit and had been aggressive towards him.

Mr Jones said: “Things then happened very quickly.

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

However Dewi was caught behind the shovel of the digger and pushed up against a wall.

The accident took place at Ty’n y Celyn, Llanfwrog, near Ruthin in Denbighshire (Google Street View)

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

John Jones told the inquest that the pair were close friends and business partners, having run the farm together for years.

The inquest held at Ruthin County Hall, in Denbighshire was ruled an accident by a jury (Google)

Mr Jones also said he was a skilled driver of the Bobcat digger and had driven it for seven years.

The inquest ruled a conclusion of misadventure, or accidental death.