A FORESTRY worker was crushed to death after his tractor and trailer plunged 50 feet into a ravine, an inquest heard.
John Stewart died after being thrown from the cab and being pinned under its rear wheel.
A post-mortem showed he had suffered multiple injuries which killed him on the spot.
Mr Stewart, 56, of Abbeylands, Alnwick, was a harvest manager for Nort
humberland Estates, the Duke of Northumberland's business wing.
The inquest heard he was working alone, as he did every day, in Hulne Park, Alnwick, when he died on July 23 last year.
When he didn't return home from work his wife Liz, 54, contacted forestry manager Clint Johnson, who went looking for him.
The inquest in Morpeth heard that Mr Johnson found Mr Stewart's car and noticed that the tractor and trailer were not on site.
He went to where Mr Stewart had been working and noticed glass and a mobile phone on the track.
He looked over his shoulder and saw the tractor in a ravine at the bottom of a steep slope, with Mr Stewart underneath, and called for help.
Firefighters eventually moved Mr Stewart's body after a lengthy operation.
Collision investigation officer PC Michael Atkinson told the inquest that he believed the tractor had skidded on part of the unmetalled road, causing it totip over and run down the embankment.
The combined weight of the tractor and trailer meant they continued to roll until they fell into the ravine.
PC Atkinson said: "The driver has made an error and this is the most likely cause of this incident.
"On the embankment the vehicle was in an irreversible situation with catastrophic results."
Deputy coroner Tony Brown heard that Mr Stewart was normally contacted three times a day by Estates office staff for safety reasons.
On the day he died, the third call was not answered but no further call was made.
Northumberland Estates has since introduced a new monitoring system for lone workers, including global positioning system devices.
The inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
After the hearing, Mr Johnson said of Mr Stewart: "He was a first class chap, irreplaceable."
Mrs Stewart said: "We were married for 33 years, he was the love of my life.
"He was a great father and a great husband, brother and son and he will be sorely missed."
She also thanked Northumbria Police for their "outstanding work".
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