Inquest opens into tractor deaths

The bodies were found in the cab of the tractor

A father and son died when their tractor fell into a canal with them trapped inside, an inquest has heard.

Mark Wells, 41, and his 19-year-old son Luke were found in a submerged tractor in the Kennet and Avon Canal at Mill, near Pewsey, in December 2004.

Mr Wells from Seend Cleeve and his son, from Melksham, had been trimming hedges along the canal towpath at the time.

Salisbury Coroner's Court was told the tractor plunged into the canal, turning upside down.

"They were approaching one of the bridges on the canal," Coroner Nigel Brookes said.

"The next thing anybody knows is that the tractor they were operating was found in the canal, and their bodies were found in the tractor."

Passers-by told how they saw the pair and their tractor earlier on 1 December 2004, the day they died.

Jogger Helen Franks said: "I was trying to work out how they could have got a vehicle that large along the towpath."

The hearing continues.