Millionaire crushed to death by ‘beloved’ ride-on lawnmower

A MILLIONAIRE businessman was crushed to death by his ride-on lawnmower as he cut grass at his country mansion, an inquest has heard.

Dermot Clancy, the 67-year-old owner of the Clancy Group, a huge London-based construction company, had been riding on his lawnmower when it ran into a ditch, toppled over and landed on top of him.

He was found by a neighbour who saw him trapped beneath the red Kubota machine, which he loved using, the inquest was told.

The coroner heard that Mr Clancy had been missing for a number of hours from his seven-bedroom house in Penn, Bucks, when his wife Victoria became worried and asked their neighbour for help.

Giles Robinson, who had lived next door for 20 years, said: “We walked down the field together. On the field there is a hollow and I saw the red tractor. I saw legs coming out from under the vehicle. I touched his back and he was cold, I wasn’t sure it was him but as it was on his property, I assumed it was

Dermot.” Paramedics were called at 7.27pm on Sep 10 and found Mr Clancy trapped head-first under the machine.

“On examination, he obviously had crush injuries as he was trapped underneath the tractor head-first,” a statement from South Central Ambulance Service said.

A post mortem examination showed that he died from traumatic asphyxiation – a powerful force surrendering the individual unable to inhale.

Experts from Kubota Ground Care Services performed analysis on the tractor and confirmed the damage was “consistent with a roll-over”.

His family paid tribute to the fatherof-five, saying his “huge personality, his smile, cheeky disposition and big heartedness would be a loss to the hundreds of lives he touched”. Coroner Crispin Butler said at the inquest in Beaconsfield, Bucks: “The tractor was in a workable condition with no evidence that there was a defect which caused or contributed to the tragic incident. He knew the lay of the land and he had done plenty of mowing before.”

He concluded the cause of death was misadventure.