A LEADING Co Down businessman died after “a freak accident” while out on quad bikes with his daughter, an inquest has heard.
Denis Lynn founded the multi-million pound food processing business Finnebrogue Artisan, which employed around 1,000 people across four sites in Co Down.
On the evening of May 2, 2021, he had been out on his quad bike in the Killyleagh Road area near Downpatrick from around 7.30pm.
His daughter Ciara had been with him on a separate quad bike.
Riding across his land where a new factory was being built, they came across a large mound of loose soil. Mr Lynn went down the mound of soil first after his daughter said she felt nervous about the terrain. She told the court the rear left wheel of her father’s vehicle rose up, causing him to fall and and become trapped under it.
Quickly coming to her father's aid by sliding down the mound, she pushed the quad bike off him by which stage he was struggling to breath and was unable to respond.
Paramedics arrived on the scene and began efforts to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead by 9.35pm.
Giving evidence to the court, Mr Lynn’s wife Christine said in their 30 years together he had always loved quad bike riding, was safety conscious and wore a helmet.
She added that her husband had been in good health, had been working on putting new paths around the factory site at the time and that his vehicle was in good working order.
Pathologist Marjorie Turner performed an autopsy, and said Mr Lynn had suffered from serious internal injuries caused by a crushing of the chest.
She told the court his injuries resulted in him dying "very quickly," having suffered lacerations to his lungs, a tear in his aorta and breaking almost every rib in his body.
She also agreed that it was "very unlikely" that any surgical intervention could have saved his life.
Mr Lynn had high blood pressure and was using beta blockers, but he was not found to have any heart disease or serious illness at the time. A small amount of alcohol was found in his urine, but this was deemed insignificant and there was no suggestion he was impaired.
In her findings, coroner Anne-Louise Toal expressed her condolences to the family and said Mr Lynn had been an experienced quad bike rider who died from "a freak accident" that resulted in crushing injuries.
She noted there had been several deaths from quad bike accidents in Northern Ireland in recent years, and called on anyone using such vehicles to inform themselves of health and safety guidance.
A father of four daughters, Mr Lynn had originally started his business empire selling pizzas and pies in a a van.
His company would eventually go on to enjoy an annual turnover of more than £100 million and supply Michelin Star restaurants and supermarkets in the UK.
Having bought the Finnebrogue Estate near Downpatrick during the 1990s, he specialised in farming beef and venison.
By 2018, he had been named as the UK’s most innovative director of the year by the Institute of Directors.
In 2020, the company started work on a fourth new factory in five years with the company producing own-brand bacon, sausages and burgers for many UK retailers.
A move into the plant-based food market was also announced, with a £25m investment in the new factory said to have created 300 new jobs.
At the time of his death, a statement from his company called him “an innovator and a visionary with an infectious passion for delivering positive change for the planet and its people".
