A coroner has issued a warning after a businesswoman died in a freak accident when a faulty ottoman bed collapsed on her head.
Helen Davey, 39, a mother of two, suffocated when she became trapped between the mattress and the box spring.
Neighbors said she was found by her 19-year-old daughter Elizabeth, known as Betty, following the tragedy at their home in Seaham, County Durham, on June 7. He also had an 11-year-old son, George. .
An inquest into Davey’s death found that she died because one of the gas pistons that raised the mattress was defective.
Yesterday it emerged that Jeremy Chipperfield, chief coroner for Durham and Darlington, wrote to the government warning there is a risk of further deaths unless action is taken.
Mother-of-two Helen Davey, 39, suffocated when she became trapped between the mattress and the slatted base.
An inquest into Davey’s death found that she died because one of the gas pistons that raised the mattress was defective.
The beautician’s neck was trapped against the top surface of the side panel of the bed base (archive photograph of an ottoman bed), a hearing heard.
He said it was his duty to raise concerns with the Department of Business and Trade’s Product Standards Office about “the existence and use of gas piston bed mechanisms the failure of which poses a risk to life”.
In his post-hearing report, Mr Chipperfield said: “The deceased was leaning over the storage area of an ottoman style ‘gas lift bed’ when the mattress platform unexpectedly lowered, trapping her neck against the top surface of the mattress. side panel of the base of the bed. Unable to free himself, he died from positional asphyxiation.
Betty declined to comment when approached by the Mail, but after the tragedy she posted on Facebook that she and her brother were struggling to “process what had happened”.
“There are no words that can describe how we feel,” he said. ‘I can’t even begin to process that it’s real and that you (sic) won’t just walk through the door.
‘Mine and George’s best friend since day one, I will always wish we had more time together and that you were still by our side supporting us through everything as always.
“I hope you know how much I love you and that I would do anything for one more hug.” Until we meet again my angel.’
Ms Davey ran her own beauty business, All Dolled Up, from her stylish newly built terraced house.
A local said detectives questioned neighbors after the tragedy.
He said Betty left her house the night of the freak accident and hasn’t lived there since.
Davey ran her own beauty business, All Dolled Up, from her stylish, newly built townhouse.
Neighbors said she was found by her 19-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, known as Betty. Betty shared this tribute after the tragedy.
The man said: ‘We didn’t know anything until the police and ambulance turned up.
‘We had the CID ask us questions, they asked if there was anything suspicious. We were told that there had been an accident and that Helen had been trapped in a position where she couldn’t breathe. That’s all they told us.
“I heard a rumor that an ottoman bed had fallen on him.” It must not have been working properly because they jump up and down.
‘The daughter went out for a couple of hours and when she returned, she must have found her. It’s a tragedy.’
Davey’s death is the second fatal accident for his family after his brother, Luke, 16, died from a brain injury when he crashed his moped into a telegraph pole, at Hutton Henry, near Peterlee, in May 2011.
