A TRAVELLER was electrocuted when a ladder he was using to cut down holly touched an overhead power cable.

Henry Doe, of Watery Lane, Stourport, was working in a field in Wildmoor, Bromsgrove with his father, Henry and brother-in-law, Tommy Davies.

As he and his father moved the ladder they were using, it touched the cable.

The younger Mr Doe took the full force of the current.

A report into the death, on Wednesday, November 24 last year, written jointly by West Mercia Constabulary, the Health and Safety Executive and Central Networks Electricity described what happened next.

"At this time, Mr Davies could see that Mr Doe junior had smoke coming from his shoes.

"Mr Doe junior pleaded with him to help him, at which Mr Davies went to instruct local residents to call an ambulance."

The 26-year-old stopped breathing and his father, who had regained consciousness after being thrust to the ground after the shock, tried to resuscitate him.

After being taken by air ambulance to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch he was pronounced dead.

A post-mortem report by Dr George Kondratowicz confirmed the cause of death as electrocution.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded by Worcestershire coroner Victor Round at the inquest.