Inquest: 83-year-old Boncath farmer died after fall from tractor

Keith Thomas Bowen bought the family farm in Boncath 50 years ago and worked as both a farmer and a contractor.

Members of his family told an inquest last week that Mr Bowen was very active and loved work, even into his eighties.

“He would be out on the farm until 10pm, work was everything,” they said. “He really enjoyed it and never thought about retiring.

“He had plans for the afternoon, and the day after and the week after. He was very active.”

Pembrokeshire coroner heard that on August 3 this year Mr Bowen had started work on the farm at 8am and after 11am began working on fencing and hedge trimming with his neighbour.

When he returned to the farmyard, he went to wash the tractor with a pressure washer.

He was later found unconscious in the yard, it appeared that he had fallen from the tractor.

Mr Bowen was airlifted to University Hospital Wales, Cardiff, with significant head injuries which unfortunately he did not recover from. He died the following day.

A medical report gave the cause of death as a subarachnoid haemorrhage and fall from a tractor.

“Mr Bowen took pride in what he did,” said Pembrokeshire Coroner Paul Bennett. “He was maintaining the machinery that he used and washing the tractor down.

“We don’t know quite how it was that he came to be on the floor in the manner that he did.”

Mr Bennett recorded a conclusion of accidental death. He thanked Mr Bowen’s family for coming to the hearing and for sharing their memories of him.

“It is always difficult to some extent to get a feel of the person from the [coroner’s officer’s] general report,” he said.

“It is difficult to sum up somebody’s life in such a short space of time and relatively few words.

“We are always pleased if a family can engage in the inquest process. It does give us an opportunity to meet them and express our empathy to you as a family in person.

“We do appreciate the effort that it has been today.”