The defendant had previously used the telehandler but Mr Elvidge said he had “received no training in using this kind of machinery and he had no interest or care in the health and safety implications of using the telehandler, or the grave risk he created to Albie”.
Boy run over by farm vehicle died from father’s gross negligence, jury hears A man unlawfully killed his three-year-old son when he reversed a defective farm vehicle over him, a jury has heard.
Opening the prosecution case on Tuesday, John Elvidge KC told jurors: “Neil Speakman told the police that he had seen Albie playing throwing sticks for his pet dogs to chase.
Speakman used the farm as a base for his log and woodchip business and had borrowed the heavy lifting vehicle from a neighbour to put woodchips into bags, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court was told.
The collision happened in a yard next to a small garden area at the front of the farmhouse in Bentley Hall Road, Walshaw, where a few minutes earlier the defendant had left Albie to play.
