A FORMER council employee died after a “bizarre” accident which saw a three-tonne trailer detach from a John Deere tractor and kill the only pedestrian on a quiet village road, a court has heard.

Frank Fenning, 79, was on his way to pick up the Sunday papers when the trailer being pulled by 67-year-old farmer Colin Baines came loose and struck him.

The trailer had safely carried more than 100 bales of hay that morning and had delivered a similar number of bales on the previous day without any problem, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

But Baines, of School Lane, Great Wigborough, is accused of failing to properly secure the trailer using a locking pin and causing the death of former Colchester Council employee Mr Fenning by dangerous driving.

Baines admits the pin had become unsecured but denies the serious charge.

Alan Wheetman, defending Baines, told the jury of seven men and five woman the incident, which took place in Birch Street, in Birch, on July 5, 2015, was “wholly tragic”.

He added: “By any stretch of the imagination, this is a wholly unusual accident – somewhat bizarre in what took place.

“I am not a gambling man but what would the odds be on the only vehicle travelling down a road on a quiet Sunday morning and a trailer becomes detached from the tractor and killing the only pedestrian in that street?

“It is odd – yet all these things came together on that tragic Sunday.”

Mr Wheetman added: “Mr Baines has never been in trouble at all in his life.

“He possesses something which is very valuable to a great many people – a good name and he wants to keep that good name.

“Having reached this age, he has never so much as had points on his licence much less committed a crime.

“He left school aged 15 and as people did in those days, began working on his father’s farm.

“He has been driving tractors since that time and I dare say he has seen many changes in the type of equipment.

“Sometimes mistakes are made and sometimes they go unnoticed and sometimes they have tragic consequences.

“I would suggest he is a careful and competent driver. He is careful because throughout all of those years, nothing like this has ever happened to him before.”

Mr Wheetman added when Baines had hitched his trailer to the tractor of the previous Friday or Saturday, he recalls hearing a “clonk”, which he identifies with the pin mechanism engaging.

Mr Wheetman added: “This is where a mistake may have been made. He looked and he saw what he honestly believed to be the pin engaged in that hole.

“In his mind, that trailer was safe – where is the criticism there?

“It’s not until he’s coming down Birch Street with its undulations in the road that he is alerted.

“It would seem after hours and hours of detailed examination, the only conclusion they can come to is that the pin wasn’t engaged as Colin Baines thought it was.

“There was nothing to alert Colin Baines that there was anything wrong with the way that trailer was fitted to the tractor.

“It is nothing more than a simple, honest mistake that any one of us could make at any time in our lives and in any circumstances.

“It is a human failing and a mistake which led to tragic consequences.

“A simple, honest mistake is not a guilty act. It should not turn somebody into a criminal.”

The trial continues.