Tycoon lay dead for 2 days after tractor crushed him as he cut grass at mansion
A RETIRED businessman lay dead at his £2million mansion for two days after a tractor crushed him while he was mowing the lawn.
Spencer Gradus, who retired as a director of a technology firm last year, had gone out to cut the grass at his eightbedroom Victorian home.
But the 52-year-old is believed to have lost control after accidentally reversing the tractor and its mowing attachment over the side of a steep bank.
He is thought to have fallen out of the tractor, which then fell on top of him and killed him.
An inquest into the grandfatherof-one’s death heard how Mr Gradus and his ex-wife Zana had just returned from living in Spain as they planned to sell the property in Hernhill, Kent.
Mr Gradus had visited the house
‘He was so happy and healthy’
to cut the lawn on May 14 this year before potential buyers came to look round his home the next day.
But when the house viewers arrived they got no answer at the mansion, which has four acres of garden including an orchard, tennis court and outdoor swimming pool.
The businessman was not found at the house until two days after the accident, when colleague Robert Field spotted the tractor was missing and then saw the top of it poking up from the steep bank.
Mr Field told the inquest at Folkestone Coroner’s Court this week: ‘I called for him but there was no answer, then I saw the garage door was open and the tractor was not in there. I could see the tip of it poking out and as I got nearer I could see the tractor was on its side and was down a bank.’ Mrs Gradus – also a director of tech firm Tallgrand Ltd – told the inquest: ‘I was with him from about 10am until 2.30pm on the Saturday [May 14] as we had somebody coming round the next morning to view the house.
‘He was on really good form. He loved cutting the grass. We had a full-time gardener but he liked to spend a lot of time on the mower.’
‘I texted him later that day to say it was so nice to see him so happy and healthy.’ Pathologist Salim Anjarwalla said Mr Gradus had suffered a heart attack and positional asphyxia.
Coroner Christine Freeman said: ‘This is a tragic story about a man doing what many men do on the weekend – cutting the grass. We may never know the exact sequence of events. Given the circumstances and the contributory factors, I am going to conclude that this was a tragic accident.’
Mr Gradus had two children, Natasha and Jack, and a granddaughter Amelia.