The incident happened after the owner of the digger was sent to dig a trench as part of work being done to put in an oil pipeline in the Kongwan township, in the city of Yicheng, in central China's Hubei province.

According to neighbours of the couple, Yu Chung, 49, and his wife Zhen, 48, the trench had been dug too close tot their home which caused a wall to crack and sag outwards.

Annoyed by the damage the couple are said to have used pitchforks to threaten the digger driver and force him to agree to pay compensation. When he refused the couple reportedly chased him off and seized the digger. 

A week later, with the dispute still unresolved, the owner of the digger, Yu Bin, 29, came back to the property during the early hours of the morning.

Using a spare key, Bin then tried to drive off in the digger, but the engine woke up the Chungs. 

Another villager Ye Meng, 40, said: 'As soon as he started the engine he woke up the couple, and they ran outside shouting which woke some of us up as well.

'When I got there I saw Chung standing in front of the digger and refusing to move to stop it getting away, and when the digger driver decided to try going backwards his wife ran behind it and lay down on the ground.

'But the digger driver clearly didn't see her, and ran over her body. Her distraught husband rushed up to her and held her hand but it was clear that she was dead.'

(dailymail.co.uk)