A 39-year-old British woman was killed by her ottoman-style storage bed when the furniture collapsed on her neck and trapped her between the mattress and the base, according to a newly released inquest.
Helen Davey, a mother of two from the town of Seaham in England, died in June. According to the inquest report, Davey was “leaning over the storage area” of the bed when it “unexpectedly” lowered and pinned her by the neck.
Davey was unable to free herself and died of “positional asphyxiation.”
The autopsy was completed on Oct. 4 and determined Davey’s death was accidental.
Jeremy Chipperfield, the coroner for the British Durham and Darlington regions, said one of the two “gas-lift pistons” on the furniture was defective. Chipperfield worried more deaths would occur in the future as a result of these gas-lift piston mechanisms.
He reported the death to the U.K.’s Department of Business and Trade, as well as the Office for Product Safety and Standards, and requested officials take action to prevent similar occurrences.
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The department told the BBC it would work to prevent any future tragedies like this one from taking place.
A spokesperson for the department called Davey’s death “a horrible tragedy” and expressed sympathy to Davey’s loved ones.
“We’re carefully considering the coroner’s report to understand the circumstances in this case and if there is anything we can do to prevent tragedies like this in the future we will respond fully before the deadline,” the statement reads.
Davey’s daughter Elizabeth told the local news outlet The Northern Echo that she found Davey’s body trapped in the bed in her home.
Elizabeth said she “dropped everything that I was holding and tried to lift the top of the bed off her head.”
“It was so heavy for me to lift it up and try to pull her out. I managed to lift it up enough to use my foot to support it,” she recalled.
Elizabeth said Davey was “blue” and had a visible indent in her neck from the bedframe.
An ambulance was called, and Davey was pronounced dead at the scene.
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