Jail after youth killed on tractor

29 October 2001



Jail after youth killed on tractor

By Fwi staff

A SHROPSHIRE farmer was jailed after a 16-year-old youth with no experience was killed while driving a JCB on a main road.

Farmer Alastair Crow, 33, from New House Farm, Hadnall, near Shrewsbury, was jailed for 15 months for manslaughter.

Mr Crows father Edward Crow, 61, of Hardwicke Home Farm, Hadnall, was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for one year.

Birmingham Crown Court ordered both men, who had each denied the charges, to pay a total of 20,000 costs.

Trainee manager Lee Smith, of Grinshill, near Wem, was killed when a the JCB farm vehicle he was driving was hit by a lorry, the court heard.

A safety inspector had warned that Mr Lee should not drive the JCB until he had received adequate training, the jury was told.

In mitigation, it was said that Alastair Crow was away at the time of the accident and Edward Crow had assumed that the youth had been trained.

• Farmers fight child tractor driver ban, FWi, 13 August 2001
• Farm accident deaths up 20%, Fwi, 20 July 2001
• Farm accidents kill 44 in England, FWi, 04 July, 2000
• Farm safety officials target children, FWi, 15 June 2001