This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Artist News Legal
Two men acquitted of causing early ELO member’s death
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 21 November 2012
Plymouth Crown Court has acquitted two men of charges relating to the death of ELO founder member Mike Edwards.
As previously reported, Edwards was killed after his van was crushed by a bale of hay as he drove down the A381 in Devon in September 2010. The 600 kilo hay bale had been left on sloping ground in a nearby field by farmers Brian Burden and Russell Williams but came loose and rolled onto the road, hitting the musician’s vehicle and killing him instantly.
Edwards’ death had already been ruled accidental by at an inquest in 2011, but Burden and Williams were charged with offenses under health and safety legislation, reports The Guardian. However, they were found to have assessed the risk of leaving the bale unattended adequately.
