A harness that could have prevented Paul McGuire falling to his death in an industrial baler had been removed for a safety test, an inquest has heard.

Mr McGuire died aged 33 at the Kingshill Recycling Centre, in Cricklade, in August 2005.

He had been attempting to clear a blockage and had fallen into the machine at the site, owned by SITA UK.

Foreman Stuart Liddell said: "The harness was taken away for a safety test."

Coroner David Masters said at the inquest, being held before a jury at the Civic Offices in Swindon today, that there was a horrible irony to that.

Mr McGuire, who lived in Greatfields, Hook, near Wootton Bassett, and grew up in Calne, had only been working at the site since May 2005.

His widow Sophie sat calmly as she listened to the evidence.

The inquest heard how Mr McGuire had attempted to clear the blockage on his own, without anyone watching him.

The conveyor belt had been shut off, but the baler had been left running.

Mr Liddell told of the panic when workers realised Mr McGuire was nowhere to be seen. He, along with yard worker Gordon Sheppard, asked William Miles, who was working nearby, if they had seen Mr McGuire.

"We shut down the machinery and asked Mr Miles to phone Paul," said Mr Liddell. "We then checked round the site and eventually commenced a second search.

"It was then identified there was some blood and Paul was subsequently found."

Mr Miles had seen Mr McGuire up at the top of the conveyor belt, attempting to clear the blockage of cardboard, but when he looked up later on he saw nobody.

He phoned Mr McGuire's mobile on his boss' instruction, but only got an engaged tone. Mr Sheppard said that had initially been some relief.

"I thought he was probably talking to his wife, which he normally did two or three times a day," he said.

All the workers who gave evidence said they had taken the shortcut of not isolating the power to the baler completely before removing an obstruction.

Crime scene investigator Philip Gage, of Wiltshire Police, removed Mr McGuire's body from the baler. He said standing on top of the conveyor belt, with cardboard strewn on it, would have been very dangerous.

"It would appear there may have been a problem with the cardboard travelling on the conveyor belt," he said.

"In the process of cleaning this, Mr McGuire had fallen into the hopper, where the hydraulic ram was still working, and, as such, suffered fatal injuries.

"With the cardboard sheets on it, I would imagine the conveyor belt would have been very slippery and unstable."

Mr Gage said it would only have been a matter of seconds before Mr McGuire was crushed by the hydraulic ram.

The inquest continues