A wealthy landowner and his former ballerina wife have been exonerated in the case involving the tragic death of a gardener, who was fatally injured by a quadbike on their £2.5 million estate.

Nicholas Prest, aged 71, and Anthea Prest, aged 70, were found not guilty following the incident that claimed the life of 47-year-old Paul Marsden at Pilstone House in Llandogo, Monmouthshire, on April 24, 2020.

Accusations were directed at the defence company executive and the ex-English National Ballet dancer, suggesting they breached safety protocols on their expansive 15-acre estate in the Welsh village.

Mr. Marsden, hailing from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, had been employed by the couple for seven years. He was tasked with using a quadbike to apply weedkiller on the surrounding farmland during the incident.

Unfortunately, the quadbike, burdened by the weight of the chemical spray tank, overturned, leading to the tragic suffocation of Mr. Marsden.

Although the Prests faced charges, they were not accused of manslaughter. Instead, they were charged with two counts each under the Health and Safety at Work Act for allegedly failing to provide necessary protective gear, adequate training, and ensuring the quadbike was safe for use.

But their defence barrister Keith Morton KC said they did not have these legal obligations as Mr Marsden was a self-employed contractor.

He explained the gardener was working for the couple privately in a domestic capacity, unrelated to their partner business, and therefore did so at his own risk.

Nicholas Prest, 71, and Anthea Prest, 70, have walked free after Paul Marsden, 47, died at Pilstone House in Llandogo, Monmouthshire, on April 24, 2020. Pictured: The couple outside court in December last year

The defence company boss and the former English National Ballet dancer were accused of safety breaches at their 15-acre property (pictured) in the Welsh village 

Mr Marsden, who had worked for the couple for seven years, had been contracted to take a quadbike out to spray weedkiller on farmland around the home. Pictured: The gardens  

And the Prests, who pleaded not guilty to both charges, have now been cleared of blame at a jury trial at Cardiff Crown Court this week. 

Prosecutor James Puzey called Mr Prest ‘highly intelligent’ and a ‘very successful businessman’, who became a manager of a stock market company at just 36.

In fact, he said he clearly thought he ‘knew better than Honda’ when he advised Mr Marsden on the vehicle’s tyre pressure – ignoring the instruction manual. 

And the couple also sent him out to ‘rough and uneven’ terrain, Mr Puzey said, on a 40-degree slope, with a five-degree side slope – unsuitable for a loaded quadbike. 

The lawyer explained in his closing speech: ‘Both Mr and Mrs Prest were involved in instructing Mr Marsden on what to do and where to go.

‘Mrs Prest drew the map and Mr Prest showed Mr Marsden the controls on the spray machine.’

The groundsman had also clearly never used this equipment before, Mr Puzey added, as he had to be shown by Mr Prest how to use the controls. 

The couple themselves had also never seen the gardener using a quadbike with a spray tank on the back of it, he said.  

David Whitton, from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), agreed, saying the field Mr Marsden was clearly not suitable terrain for a loaded quadbike. 

The officer from the workplace safety regulatory body explained: ‘Any load added to a quadbike will raise the centre of gravity. That will make it less stable.

‘With the addition of the extra mass of the spray-tank it would increase the centre of gravity and make it more likely to be able to lose control.’

On the day of the tragedy, Mr Marsden had brought some cake to work, which he had told his colleague Nicholas Miles he would share with him on their break. 

But the co-worker, who had been power washing around the couple’s pool and nearby garden furniture, became concerned when the gardener did not show up. 

Mr Miles said: ‘When I turned up [to work], Paul [Marsden] was busy putting weedkiller into the quadbike sprayer and filling it with water.

‘He seemed fine, we had a general chat. He seemed his normal self.’

The co-worker said the last time he saw Mr Marsden was around 10.10am when he drove off on the bike.

He explained: ‘We normally have a break around 11am. If Paul was working we would try and have it together.’

But that day, he ended up taking his break alone, before returning to work until lunch, at around 1.05pm – when Mr Marsden was still nowhere to be seen. 

Mr Miles went to look for his colleague – and soon found him, at around 1.30pm, at the top of a steep field, pinned under the quadbike, which had overturned. 

The gardener was turning ‘blue’ and unable to breathe – and a post-mortem examination later revealed he died of asphyxia. 

The worker explained: ‘I could see the quadbike had turned over. Initially, I was hoping he would be stood next to it.

Mr Prest (pictured) previously worked for the Ministry of Defence before setting up his own companies. He now chairs defence technology giant Cohort 

He lives with his ex-ballerina wife and mother-of-three Mrs Prest (pictured) at their sprawling countryside home overlooking the River Wye and the Forest of Dean 

The Prests (pictured outside court in December last year) were charged with two counts under the Health and Safety at Work Act, for failing to give workers protective equipment or training and check the bike was safe to use

‘It was turned over. When I got close enough to see, I could see he was underneath it.

‘The quadbike had come down on his back and he was pinned to the ground with his arms outstretched.

‘Initially I shouted to him as I was getting closer and closer but as I got up close, I could see that he had started to go blue.’

Mr Miles, who raised the alarm by calling a neighbouring farmer and calling 999, said he was ‘distraught’ by his friend’s death. 

He said he only went on a course on how to safely use the quadbike after the tragedy, learning proper riding technique and how to check the vehicle was fit for use. 

Prosecutor Mr Puzey said the Prests ‘had a legal responsibility to ensure that the workers on their land were safe’. 

But he said they failed to do what they ‘would have and should have done’ to prevent the accident. 

For instance, the lawyer said, the couple did not provide Mr Marsden with adequate training and personal protective equipment (PPE). 

They also did not ensure the worker was trained to drive the vehicle, he continued, or make certain the weedkiller tank was of a safe weight. 

And the land where the accident happened was also ‘relatively steep’, he said, with ‘uneven and rough ground conditions’. 

The Prests had been renting the 42.6 acres of fields around their home from a nearby farmer for grazing cattle.

They were paying £27,500 a term to hire the land and, in return, received £16,651 in commun agricultural payments in 2020.   

Mr Puzey added a HSE investigation had similarly concluded ‘the use of the quadbike was seriously unsafe and that no suitable safety precautions were taken beforehand’. 

He said: ‘There were a series of factors here that would have increased the risk of an accident such as this happening.’

But defence lawyer Mr Morton KC ultimately said the gardener was working on a self-employed basis and therefore at his own risk.

Mrs Prest, when giving evidence in her defence, also called Mr Marsden a ‘competent’ rider who used their vehicle ‘frequently’. 

She said: ‘It would save him walking back and forth, and it was just used for transporting the herbicide because he would then get off the quad bike and spray spot the areas.’ 

The former ballet dancer said she did not advise the gardener on how to ride the bike because ‘it would be like teaching granny to suck eggs’.

Mr Prest previously worked for the Ministry of Defence before setting up his own companies. He now chairs defence technology giant Cohort. 

He lives with his ex-ballerina wife and mother-of-three Mrs Prest at their sprawling countryside home overlooking the River Wye and the Forest of Dean. 

The couple have previously hosted a number of charity fundraiser garden parties at Pilstone House, to support causes such as the NHS and Ukraine.