Trapped worker died from a broken neck

Father-of-three Andrew Sankey, aged 51, broke his neck when he got trapped in the equipment.

A jury unanimously agreed that the land drainage engineer had been trying to unload his trenching machine from a trailer that had not been designed to move it.

He was reaching through the sliding window of the cab and appeared to be using a piece of wire to work a lever when the trencher suddenly dropped and snared him, the jury found.

Mr Sankey, of Albrighton, was pronounced dead at the farm in Newport, Shropshire. The inquest heard from farm worker Barry Leigh Whittall, who had been working on a farm opposite when he saw Mr Sankey lying on top of the cab in the field on the afternoon of March 28.

Mr Whittall said: "I ran directly up to him. I could see then his arm and head were pulled around towards me. I'm 99 per cent sure he was already gone.

"I just rang the emergency services and they said they would send everything anyway. I pulled up his shirt and his back was blue. It was really, really cold. There was snow on the ground."

Consultant pathologist Professor Archie Malcolm found the cause of death to be fractured cervical vertebrae, better known as a broken neck.

Mr Sankey, who lived at Lyncroft in Albrighton with his partner Helen Cartwright, was working for GPC Land Drainage Solutions Ltd. Director Gordon Phillip Cork fought back tears as he told the hearing in Shrewsbury yesterday: "We've grown up together. We were like brothers.

"He became one of the best operators in the country. He was so skilled. In 25 years we never went back to a job with a defect. He was such a perfectionist.

"The trenching machine was his baby. He loved that more than any other machinery."

Mr Sankey's nephew Mark Jamie Sankey said they had worked together for 20 years and his uncle was widely regarded as 'one of the best' land drainage specialists.

Louis Purchase, also a director at GPC, said the trenching machine was still in use at the request of Mr Sankey's family and had been modified to improve safety. The jury concluded that Cosford-born Mr Sankey's death was due to misadventure.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Sankey's daughter Kate said her father was nicknamed Panda since his school days as he was a 'friendly giant'. He also leaves behind sons Paul, 27, and Mark, 22, and grandchilden Ellie, three, and 10-month-old Bradley.

Mr Sankey's ex-wife Janet said: "He absolutely doted on the grandchildren. They would get away with everything, they would boss him about."