Farmer who killed three-year-old son by reversing over him in tears saying ‘I messed up’
Farmer who killed three-year-old son by reversing over him in tears saying ‘I messed up’
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A dad has told how his life has been "ruined" by a "tragic accident" at a family farm where his three-year-old son died. Albie Speakman suffered catastrophic injuries after Neil Speakman, 39, reversed a telehandler vehicle into him in Bury, Greater Manchester, on July 16 2022.
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, a court heard. The prosecution say the area was insecure so that Albie was free to wander into the yard where his father was working and that the Kramer telehandler had various defects. Speakman denies gross negligence manslaughter.
Giving evidence at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Wednesday, Speakman told jurors that because the telehandler had a missing wing mirror he would "check profusely" for blind spots but he did not see his son. He said: "I am always careful in what I do. He was my little boy.".
Asked to describe what happened next, he said: "You felt a bump instantly. I had travelled 10cm, 20cm...I stopped instantly. It was a split second. I looked right and saw his legs, and jumped off." He wiped away tears as he added: "I shouldn't have to do this. It's f****** not fair.".
Speakman told his barrister Alexander Leach KC that he was "more than competent" at driving his neighbour's telehandler, which he said he had used "200/300 times easily". He said: "I looked over both shoulders a number of times, I have gone fully round, 180 degrees. If I thought Albie was even an inch into that yard I would never have moved that vehicle. If I thought for one second he was not on that grass I would not even have moved that stupid thing.".
