A WORKER died after she was crushed by a falling straw bale at a farm pony trekking centre, an inquest heard yesterday (June 27).

She made a desperate mobile phone call for help to the farmhouse.

An inquest jury at Caernarfon returned a conclusion of misadventure following the tragedy of Julie Parry, 49, a stablehand, of Stanley Road, Fairbourne, at nearby Bwlchgwyn Farm, Arthog, in January 2018.

She died at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, three days after being trapped.

Her father Stuart Eves told the coroner it was “just a pure accident.”

He said: “The family as a whole in no way hold Bwlchgwyn in error. It was just a very, very unfortunate accident.”

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North West Wales acting senior coroner Katie Sutherland told the jury: “We are not seeking to apportion any blame.

“It’s not known what Julie was doing immediately before she became trapped.”

Gemma Evans, owner of the farm with her husband John, said Julie Parry was “very experienced and knowledgeable”.

The stablehand had been feeding horses.

Mrs Evans had been in the farmhouse kitchen, with others at lunchtime, when there was a call to the landline.

“The voice was very distorted. We couldn’t understand what was being said,” Mrs Evans recalled.

The caller’s number was typed into a mobile phone and it was realised it had been her employee.

Imogen Evans, daughter of the farm owners, said she and others rushed to the horse barn.

She said: “We were running, looking for her, shouting.”

Matthew Jones found Julie Parry standing up but pinned between bales.

Farrier Rhydian Evans said a bale was removed by her rescuers but she had no pulse. He had started CPR.

Farmer John Evans said bales weighed up to half a ton.

They’d been stacked in a “safe” manner, in small piles.

The stack in question was eight to 10 feet high, he added.

The Health and Safety Executive regarded the stack as “stable.”

Pathologist Dr Mared Owen-Casey said there was a crush injury to the chest.

The jury foreman said the worker had been found trapped across the chest by a fallen straw bale in a gap between two hay bales.

She made a phone call to her employer and was taken to hospital but died.