Farmer not liable for ELO death

A farmer and a contractor have been acquitted of charges related to the death of former ELO cellist Mike Edwards in 2010. A Plymouth court found that Brian Burden and Russell Williams were not responsible for an accident in which Edwards was crushed by a giant hay bale. Edwards was driving his van near Totnes in Devon on 3 September 2010, when a rolling hay bale burst through a wire fence, a thin hedge, and on to the A381. The 600kg bale killed the 62-year-old instantly.