Groundworker Stuart Guard died in a freak accident with a trench cutter on a work site near Box, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Mr Guard, who lived in Gloucester, was found dead by colleagues after he had been working on the machine, which he had been using to lay gas pipes on an unclassified road near Mill Lane on July 30, 2009.

The 28-year-old, an employee of South West Highways Trenching, was taken to Great Western Hospital, Swindon, but it is believed he died at the scene.

An inquest was opened in August by the Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Service but was adjourned until Tuesday when coroner David Ridley reopened the case. It is expected to end on Friday when a jury of nine will deliver their verdict into his death.

Mr Ridley said: “Stuart had been told by the foreman to pack up the trench cutter but he had not been seen for a few minutes so the foreman went to look for him. When he found him the machine was still running.

“One of the possibilities is that Stuart was carrying out some sort of maintenance on the back of the cutter and so we will be asking if there were any tools nearby that were found to have been used.”

The inquest was due to hear from fellow workers who have used the machinery, representatives from the Health and Safety Executive and police officers who were first to arrive on the scene.

The inquest continues.