Carmarthenshire boy, 3, died after being run over by dad on farm

Ianto Jenkins was found at Efailwen's Rhosfach Farm, in Carmarthenshire

A three-year-old boy died after he was run over by a pick-up truck and trailer driven by his father, an inquest has heard.

Ianto Jenkins died at Rhosfach Farm near Efailwen, Carmarthenshire, after his father, Guto Jenkins, left to deliver soil on 3 August 2021.

Mr Jenkins, 32, said: "I still have flashbacks, the pain will be with me for the rest of my life."

The jury at Llanelli Town Hall returned a conclusion of accidental death.

In written evidence to Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire Coroner's Court, Mr Jenkins said he had "no idea" how Ianto was hit and did not "see, hear or feel anything unusual".

Ianto had said he wanted to accompany his father to deliver topsoil - which he sold from his farm - but then changed his mind.

The court heard the boy was riding his bike in a secure farmyard with his elder sister and cousin when he was fatally injured by the 8ft-long trailer.

Mr Jenkins said his son "was playing well away from the trailer" towards the bottom of the farmyard.

He did visual checks, including looking over his shoulder and did "not see Ianto around the pick-up or the trailer."

"The only thing I can think of now is that either Ianto must have been in a blind spot, or he had moved into the vicinity of the trailer while I was looking in my other mirror or ahead in order to make sure this area was clear," Mr Jenkins said.

Ianto's grandmother, Meinir, said her granddaughter came running into the farmhouse shouting "Ianto is dead".

The jury heard Ianto suffered a "catastrophic head injury"

She found him on the ground, still on his bike, about five metres from the house with severe head injuries and called her son on his mobile phone to tell him Ianto had died.

The court heard that the boy suffered a "catastrophic head injury" that would have been "instantaneously fatal".

Mr Jenkins said the call telling him about what happened to Ianto was the worst of his life.

"I drove back. I didn't understand what had happened. I had no idea how he was struck," he said.

"As his father the circumstances of his death is a waking nightmare which I will live with for the rest of my life.

"I still have flashbacks, the pain will be with me for the rest of my life. I am broken. I am a shell. You are supposed to protect your children."

Ianto's grandmother contacted his mother, Chloe Picton, who travelled to the dairy farm but was stopped from seeing her son by police.

"She kept saying 'I can't believe, I want to see my baby'," Ianto's grandmother told the jury.

Paediatric pathologist Andrew Bamber said the injuries were consistent with "pressure applied by a very heavy object" such as being run over by a pick-up and trailer carrying topsoil.

In a written statement, Mr Jenkins said he found it very difficult to describe the "circumstances of his son's death" and was undergoing counselling.

Prior to the accident, he had tested positive for Covid-19 and had not seen his children for 10 days.

He added that "not a day went by" when he didn't think of his son.

No defects were found on either the pick-up or the trailer.

A Health and Safety inspector said an improvement notice had been served on the farm in September 2021 which called for a safe area for children to play in, which had since been complied with.