‘Lucky to be alive’: Builder drove himself to hospital with bowels in a T-shirt after freak accident
A retired builder who drove himself to hospital with his bowels wrapped in a T-shirt has said he is “lucky to be alive”.
Warning: Contains graphic details about the injury
Brendan Clancy had been cutting pallets in his garden when he fell onto his saw’s 9in blade.
The saw cut through his abdomen and his bowels before he drove himself to a community hospital 10 minutes away.
The 67-year-old, from Upper Cwmtwrch in the Swansea Valley, said he lost his footing before he tripped onto the saw.
“I felt something squidgy and I realised my bowels were coming out,” he said.
“I couldn’t believe it. They just kept coming out and it seemed as if it would never stop.”
Mr Clancy’s wife was not nearby at the time and he said he “couldn’t wait for help to arrive”.
“There was a bucket on the floor but that was dirty, and I thought I couldn’t use that, so I went inside and grabbed a T-shirt and wrapped them up in that,” he said.
Pic: Wales Air Ambulance
‘Carrying your guts’
While on his way to the hospital, Mr Clancy made sure he was “keeping [his] senses and concentrating”.
“I have a manual car, and all my guts were all over the gear lever side, but it helped to take my mind off it,” he said.
“When you are carrying your guts, you don’t think of anything else apart from keeping them all in one place.”
The Wales Air Ambulance was called to transfer Mr Clancy to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
He underwent four hours of surgery before he returned home a few days later without any lasting injuries other than a 12in scar.
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Professor David Lockey, the critical care consultant who treated Mr Clancy, said it was “good to hear” he had recovered quickly.
“Despite the positive outcome in this case, we would still advise anybody in an emergency situation to call 999 directly. It also serves as a reminder to everyone to be careful with power tools,” he said.
The air ambulance service, which covers all corners of Wales, relies on public money to keep its four air ambulances in operation.
Paedophile Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has died after being attacked in prison.
Watkins, 48, was serving a 29-year jail term for multiple sexual offences, including serious crimes against young children and babies at HMP Wakefield, in West Yorkshire.
He was attacked with a knife by another inmate on Saturday morning, sources have confirmed.
West Yorkshire Police said two men, aged 25 and 43, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
A police van outside Wakefield prison. Pic: YappApp
Watkins was pronounced dead at the scene after prison staff reported the assault to police.
The prison went into lockdown in the immediate aftermath of the incident, sources added.
A Prison Service spokesperson said they could not comment while the police investigate.
Watkins was previously stabbed in an incident at the same prison in 2023, suffering non life-threatening injuries after he was reportedly taken hostage by three other inmates before being freed by prison officers six hours later.
He was sentenced in December 2013 to 29 years in prison, with a further six years on licence, after admitting 13 sex offences, including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.
Watkins performing in 2004. Pic: PA
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He also encouraged a second fan to abuse her child during a webcam chat and secretly stashed child sexual abuse videos, some of which he had made himself.
At the time, police described him as a “committed, organised paedophile”.
Having found fame in Welsh rock band Lostprophets, Watkins was arrested after his Pontypridd home was searched on orders of a drug warrant in September 2012.
A large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized during the search.
When sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, the singer was told he was being given an extended sentence – and a judge said his crimes “plumbed new depths of depravity”.
After being caught with a mobile phone behind bars in 2019, he told a court that he was locked up with “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst”.
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