Some diabolical crap being spoken on here.
In the UK, microlight accidents are on par with helicopters, both of which are slightly worse than GA.
In the US, the situation is completely different. As has been said, you can build your own ultralight, without any inspections of previous experience and then you can fly it without any previous flying experience, subject to the aircraft weighing less than 115kg.
This could not be further from the situation in the UK.
I have no knowledge of the German market, except for one point. All ultralights in Germany must have a BRS fitted. I am firmly of the belief that this leads pilots into the mistaken belief that if it all goes wrong, they just pull the handle. Daily inspections have less importance and aerobatics seem more attractive, when you have a chute fitted. The reality is that if something goes wrong below 1500ft, its unlikely to save you.
I suspect that John Walton was flying a tiny homebuilt, because it gave him much more of a buzz than driving a 40 year old Cessna or Piper.