Farmer crushed to death while moving half-ton Aga cooker

Inquest hears how Anthony Rees defied wife’s calls to wait for son to help as he wanted to ‘get job done’

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A man was killed while trying to move an Aga stove weighing nearly half a ton across his kitchen.

Farmer Anthony Rees died when the 74 stone (470kg) cooker crushed him at his home in Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, near Ruthin, Denbighshire, north Wales, in June.

Mr Rees's wife, Elizabeth Rees, said she asked her husband to wait until their son came home to help but he insisted he wanted to "get the job done".

The 78-year-old, a former deep sea diver, had been taking medication to treat his cancer, which might have influenced his decision making and caused the subsequent accident, Ms Rees added.

He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, in April 2020.

At an inquest in Ruthin, Ms Rees said in a statement that her husband had planned to move the stove with a four-wheeled trolley he had built.

"I couldn't understand why he had been so keen to go ahead," Mrs Rees said of her husband's decision not to wait for their son to come home.

The inquest heard how the stove toppled over onto Mr Rees as he attempted to move it across the kitchen.

The cooker pinned Mr Rees to the ground and his wife was unable to free him.

Ms Rees called emergency services before contacting a neighbour as she waited for help.

David Heller managed to move the cooker and free Ms Rees.

Arriving at the incident, paramedics and doctors carried out CPR but Mr Rees was declared.

The coroner recorded a conclusion of death by misadventure - death caused by a person accidentally while performing a legal act without negligence or intent to harm.