The father of a former racehorse trainer died of traumatic asphyxia after being crushed in a horse walker, an inquest has heard. Kevin Peckham, 66, was a well-known figure in Newmarket's racing community, having served as head lad to top trainer William Haggas for over a decade. His son, George, ran a pre-training operation for which Mr Peckham was working at the time of his death in May 2021.
An inquest held in Huntingdon on Tuesday heard that Mr Peckham, who was due to celebrate his birthday that day, was discovered by his wife Jackie after he failed to return home at lunchtime. In a written statement, she said she found her husband wedged between a partition used to push horses along and the side wall of the machine. Although the horse walker was not turning, the motor was still running. She tried unsuccessfully to pull him free, hit the emergency button, and called emergency services. Mr Peckham was pronounced dead at the scene, with a post-mortem revealing traumatic asphyxia as the cause of death.
George Peckham told the inquest that his father had years of experience in the racing industry and had supervised horse walkers made by the same manufacturer “hundreds of thousands of times throughout his career.” On the day of the incident, his father had sent a co-worker home as their work was complete. “Unfortunately there were no witnesses to what happened thereafter,” George said. “We can guess from the circumstances that he was cleaning the horse walker on his own and with it powered on.”
He noted that the company’s safe system of work designated cleaning the horse walker as a two-person job that should only be done with the machine powered off. “The rule was known to all,” he said. “I have never seen anyone clean a horse walker under power and could not believe this was what my father had been doing. The unique circumstances of my father's death were not foreseeable or foreseen.” He added that because cleaning equipment was found outside the machine, he believed his father may have re-entered to retrieve his mobile phone, which was found inside on the floor, realising too late that the panels were moving.
Cambridgeshire coroner Elizabeth Gray stated there was no evidence that George Peckham Racing Ltd had failed to provide a safe working environment or that the machine’s operation contributed to the death. The jury returned a verdict of misadventure, with the foreperson saying: “Mr Peckham disregarded these regulations and unfortunately that resulted in the loss of his life.”
