Distraught farmer found hanged

Daily Mail April 23, 2001

A FARMER has been found hanged in his barn days after his cattle were slaughtered because of foot-and-mouth. Father-of-three Glyn Lewis, 59, was inconsolable when half of his herd was destroyed after coming into contact with infected animals. The remainder of his 40 cattle and 250 sheep were due to be killed this week. A road haulage business which he also ran had been crippled by restrictions on livestock movements. Friends said yesterday that Mr Lewis’s death, which is being treated as suicide by ~o1ice, was a direct result of the epidemic. Fellow farmer Robert Thomas, 51, said: "If it hadn’t been for foot-and-mouth Glyn would still be with us now."

Mr Lewis had taken over the farm at Llanfyllin, near Welshpool, Powys, from his father and had lived in the village all his life. His children, Steven, 30, Sadie, 27, and Gareth, 25, and his ex- wife Joyce, 57, were being comforted by relatives yesterday.

Mr Lewis’s death came just three weeks after farmer John Bayliss was found dead in Kerry; 20 miles away. Friends said he had been worried about the disease.