Boy 'seriously injured' in quad bike accident at Michael Owen's mansion

The boy was not the football star's nine-year-old son James

A boy has been seriously injured in a quad bike accident at former footballer Michael Owen’s north Wales mansion.

The boy, who is not thought to be the star’s nine-year-old son, was rushed to Chester hospital on Wednesday with “serious but non-life threatening injury,” a Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson told the Mail Online.

Paramedics rushed to the boy in the sprawling grounds of Owen’s £1.6 million home in Northop, near Flintshire.

Passer-by Nick Rothe told the Daily Mirror that he heard people “screaming about” on quad bikes in the grounds of the house while he was walking his dog on a public path.

He then witnessed the aftermath of the crash, telling the paper: “There was one child injured. He was lying on the ground.”

He added that “Michael is a very private person and he doesn’t like you talking to him so we didn’t say ‘can we help?’. Michael was there and I think his brother was stood over the child.”

Owen rides the quad bike round his estate from time to time Rothe said, adding that he had seen him doing so before with a child on the back.

The former Liverpool star, 35, has four children with his childhood sweetheart, Louise Bonsall. Gemma Rose, 12, James Michael, nine, and Emily May, seven, and Jessica, five. The couple are about to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

Owen also played for Real Madrid, Newcastle and Manchester United, then ended while playing for Stoke.