Farmer died after being crushed by bull at farm in Llandeilo

A Welsh farmer died after a bull crushed him against a brick wall an inquest has heard.

58-year-old Maldwyn Harries was killed at Cefn Rhiwlas near Llandeilo on 23 September last year as he worked with his wife and son.

Mr Harries, who has been described as a "significant member" of the rural community, was with his family and a farm vet when they were testing animals for TB.

During the inquest, Mr Harries' wife, Gillian, told the coroner that her husband had tried to push the bull backwards out of a stall and into a crush so it could be tagged by the vet.

Mrs Harries said the bull was used to going through the yard and milking parlour twice a day and had been through the crush earlier that day.

Simon Breen from the Health and Safety Executive also told the inquest at Llanelli Town Hall, that Mr Harries had been in the stall next to the bull and tapped it on the nose to encourage it to reverse out.

Mr Breen said the bull would "normally respond by backing out". However on this occasion it didn't and Mr Harries ducked under the rails between the two stalls and tried again.

Mr Breen said: "Somehow the bull decided to go forward rather than back."

Mr Harries was crushed between the animal and the wall and suffered "multiple traumatic injuries" to his chest, abdomen, and spine.

The bull was quickly removed from the area and was later destroyed as it had tested positive for TB.

Despite the best efforts of medical workers, including the air ambulance, who treated him with six pints of blood, Mr Harries died at the scene.

A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Petya Nedeva gave the medical cause of death as "multiple chest, abdominal, and spinal traumatic injuries" caused by "accidental crushing by a bull".

Paul Bennett, acting senior coroner for Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire said, "this is sadly one of those unusual and infrequent occasions where someone has died in the context of doing their very valuable work as part of the farming community in this country and in the course of that has put themselves into a situation sadly of risk that led, as we know, to Mr Harries sustaining significant traumatic crush injuries from which he subsequently died."

He added that he couldn't imagine how Mr Harries' death had affected Mrs Harries "both as his wife and family but also as a significant member of the farming community".

Mr Bennett said Mr Harries' death was clearly an accident as a "non-intended consequence" of going about "the day-to-day part of the farming routine".

He recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

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