Giant hay bale killed ELO star Mike Edwards
ROCK star Mike Edwards, a founder member of 1970s supergroup the Electric Light Orchestra, was crushed to death in “an easily preventable” farming accident, a court heard yesterday.
A half-ton hay bale rolled out of a field and down a hill, smashing into the van being driven by the cellist, 62.
The tragedy on the A381 near Totnes, Devon, could have been avoided if farmer Brian Burden, 48, and contractor Russell Williams, 23, hadn’t left the hay leaning on a fence, heard Plymouth Crown Court.
Rupert Lowe, prosecuting, said Mr Edwards was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” but the “dreadful accident was one which was easily preventable”.
He added: “Leaving a heavy round bale on a steep slope above a busy A-road is obviously putting other people at risk.” Burden and Williams deny two Health and Safety at Work Act charges.
The trial continues.