Farm crush death man identified

A farm worker who was killed when the tractor he was driving toppled over and crushed him has been named by police.

David Roger Phillips, 58, from Dunley, Stourport-on-Severn, died at Witley Farm in Great Witley, on Monday night.

The farm's owners said he had ploughed the same field countless times over the last 35 years.

Safety officials and police are investigating the death, which was the second on a farm in Herefordshire and Worcestershire in four days.

I don't think farms will ever be the safest places in the world Simon Edwards, NFU

West Mercia Police say the remote location means there are unlikely to have been any eyewitnesses, but they hope that someone in the area may have useful information.

Mr Phillips' death follows that of 21-year-old Andrew Pursey, who was crushed by farm machinery on his family's estate in Harewood End, Herefordshire, on Friday.

Mr Pursey's mother, Liz, is a former chair of the National Farmers Union (NFU) in the county and runs a 650-acre estate with her husband, Roger.

Their Reading University graduate's death is also being investigated by both West Mercia Police and the Health and Safety Executive.

The current NFU chairman in Herefordshire, Simon Edwards, said: "I don't think farms will ever be the safest places in the world.

"But farmers are always doing their very best to maintain safety."