THE body of a man who died after falling into an industrial bailing machine was not discovered until 15 minutes after he was spotted trying to clear a blockage, an inquest heard.

Witnesses told the court they did not offer 33-year-old Paul McGuire any help because they assumed he was not acting alone.

But Mr McGuire's grieving widow Sophie stormed out of court sobbing after hearing that one of her husband's workmates, who saw him minutes before his death, did not get on with him.

Coroner David Masters had earlier told the inquest at the Civic Offices in Swindon that Mr McGuire died on August 16, 2005 of multiple severe injuries after being found in a paper-bailing machine at the SITA recycling depot, just off the A419 near Cricklade.

Mr McGuire, a former soldier, of Greatfield near Hook, had barely worked at the recycling plant for three months when the tragedy happened and was employed at the time as a yard worker.

He had been married to his 27-year-old wife for just nine months.

"He left his home as normal to go to work," Mr Masters said. "He arrived just before five o'clock in the morning when other employees were having a coffee and then they started going out to commence work.

"He started loading cardboard on the conveyor. At which point, probably at about quarter to seven, he was seen climbing up the conveyor belt to the top of the bailer and kicking down the cardboard."

He added: "He was not wearing a harness and the witnesses from whom you will hear today, never saw Mr McGuire again."

A jury of five men and three women were taken on a site visit of the SITA recycling centre yesterday morning to see for themselves the machine that claimed Mr McGuire's life.

Slovak yard worker Radoslav Jacecko had been one of the last people to see Mr McGuire alive.

He told the inquest he saw Mr McGuire climb up the stationary conveyor belt to the top of the bailer, but did not see whether he activated the emergency stop button before doing so.

He said he saw Mr McGuire standing up and pushing hard on the cardboard in the bailer and said he believed he must have been trying to remove a blockage.

He said blockages happened two to three times a day and that he had seen at least three other people using the same method as Mr McGuire.

But he added that the day before he had been shown by a supervisor what procedures to follow in the event of a bailer blockage. Mr Jacecko said he did not see Mr McGuire fall into the bailer and did not hear him shout for help.

"About 10 to 15 minutes later plant worker William Miles asked where Paul McGuire was," Mr Jacecko said through an interpreter. He then described how workers conducted a search for Mr McGuire and that he knew something was wrong when he got blood on his hands while sorting through the cardboard in the bailer.

Polish fork lift truck driver Pawel Schulz was with Mr Jacecko when he spotted Mr McGuire at the top of the bailer.

"He was pushing the cardboard with his leg, kicking with his feet," he said, also through an interpreter.

"I only looked at him once and then I turned away, my attention was taken up with something else."

Asked by solicitor Alan Smith, representing Mrs McGuire, whether he offered to help Mr McGuire, he replied: "I could have thought he may need help, but at the same time I thought there was someone with him - because nobody clears the blockages on their own."

When asked if he saw eye to eye with Mr McGuire, Mr Schulz said: "No, we didn't see eye to eye."

He said it was maybe 10, 15 or 20 minutes before anyone asked where Mr McGuire was and he was not concerned because he was concentrating on his own work.

The inquest continues.