Kevin Peckham, 66, died of traumatic asphyxia after being crushed in a horse walker at his son's pre-training operation in Newmarket, an inquest has heard.
The inquest at Huntingdon was told Mr Peckham was found by his wife Jackie after he failed to return home at lunchtime. She discovered him wedged between one of the partitions used to push horses along and the side wall. Although the machine was not turning, the motor was still running.
His son George, a former licensed trainer, told the inquest his father had years of experience and had supervised horse walkers made by the same manufacturer hundreds of thousands of times throughout his career. He said the firm's safe system of work specified that cleaning the horse walker was a two-person job and should only be done with the machine powered off.
George Peckham said the rules were known to all and the circumstances of his father's death were not foreseeable or foreseen. He suggested his father may have re-entered the machine to retrieve his mobile phone, realising too late that the panels were coming round. The coroner said there was no evidence that George Peckham Racing Ltd had not provided a safe working environment.
The jury returned a verdict of misadventure, with the foreperson stating: 'Mr Peckham disregarded these regulations and unfortunately that resulted in the loss of his life.'
