Son kicked and stamped dad to death over row on keeping pigs on family farm, murder trial hears

Mr Thomas enjoyed spending time on their family farm since retiring. Credit: Media Wales

A son wearing steel-toe capped boots dragged his dad from a truck before kicking and stamping him to death, an inquest has heard.

Dafydd Thomas, 65 and a retired businessman from Gwynedd, was left with "catastrophic facial injuries" and pronounced dead on the driveway of his farm in Minffordd in March 2021.

Tony Thomas, 45, of Penrhyn Isaf in Minffordd, denied the murder or manslaughter of his father at Mold Crown Court on Tuesday (January 17).

Speaking in court, Mr Thomas' widow Elizabeth Thomas explained how her stepson had been looking for her husband with an "almost crazy look in his eyes", along with a "very strange" demeanour that day.

The court heard the men had been in a dispute about the keeping of pigs on the farm.

The court heard Thomas admitted carrying out the attack, but denied murder or manslaughter.

The 64-year-old called her husband to say Thomas, who suffered from a mental illness, had been looking for him. However, she became worried when he didn't return in the short time he said he would.

After using the "Find my iPhone" app to locate him, she saw a "calm" Thomas walking back towards the house before she found her husband lying beside his pick-up truck "bleeding terribly".

"One side of his face was black, the other was just blood", and there was "so much blood along the road," she added. Mrs Thomas carried out CPR until the emergency services arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Mr Thomas had recently retired as a director of Gwynedd Environmental Waste Services (GEWS) Ltd and was enjoying the extra time he could to dedicate to the farm, the court was told.

Prosecutor Gordon Cole KC said the father-son relationship became more strained over the years with arguments over expanding the family farm.

Mrs Thomas told the court her stepson suffered from bi-polar disorder, which had "gotten dreadfully worse" and he would go from being "manic (and) excitable" to "the depths of despair with depression".

A provisional cause of death of "inhalation of blood due to severe blunt trauma facial injuries" was issued by the coroner.

Thomas admitted that he carried out the attack, but denies murder or manslaughter.

The trial is ongoing.