A SON has been cleared of trying to kill his 71-year-old mother by throwing her over a bridge at Chagford. Boat builder Christopher Farren-Hill, 44, of Plymouth, was found not guilty of the attempted murder of former Vixen Tor resident Sylvia Coates by a jury at Exeter Crown Court on Monday. He told the court the 20ft fall at Mill Bridge on September 25 2004 was an accident, caused by her having a blackout as they crossed the bridge at the end of a six mile moorland walk. The prosecution claimed Mr Farren-Hill plotted the attack in advance and even prepared his explanation by telling the family doctor his mother had started to suffer from fits and blackouts. He told the jury that he had been walking ahead of his mother when she fell over the low parapet without warning. He said he went to her aid straight away and called for an ambulance at the scene. Mrs Coates, a keen amateur naturalist, said her son pretended to have seen something in the water and persuaded her to lean out over the low parapet. As she did so, she said she felt a firm push downwards to the back of her head and she plunged into the river, breaking her pelvis. During the week-long trial the jury heard how the relationship between mother and son broke down after he moved in to care for her following two hip replacements. The court heard their petty quarrels over chores got worse after they moved from their smallholding at Vixen Tor near Tavistock, to Chagford. By the time of Mrs Coates? fall they were barely talking to each other. The court was told Mrs Coates wanted her son to find a place of his own and gave him legal notice to quit the bungalow. Mrs Coates claimed she was sure she had been pushed and her son was trying to kill her. She said: ?He pushed me downwards and I lost my balance and went head first. ?I did not see my son. I managed to look up and there was an eerie silence. It was very frightening. I was surprised I was still alive. ?If I had been knocked out at that time I definitely would have drowned.? Mr Farren-Hill said he got on well with his mother and said he was a few feet away from her when she fell and turned round to see her feet disappearing over the parapet. After the case Mrs Coates said she did not want to comment. In a statement, Mr Farren-Hill?s solicitor Terry Falcao said: ?He is very grateful for this sensible decision by the jury and is extremely relieved.?
