A 39-year-old mother of two died after a motorized ottoman bed fell on her neck in northern England.
Helen Davey’s lifeless body was discovered by her daughter, who told the Northern Echo she returned home to find her mom lying on her back with her head stuck inside the bed.
“Her legs were bent as if she was trying to get up,” the victim’s daughter said.
Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield said Davey was trapped due to a defective gas-lift piston meant to help open and close the bed. He believes she wound up in a supine position while trying to escape from the heavy unit, which eventually caused her death by asphyxia in June. Davey’s daughter managed to free her mom from under the bed, but said the victim’s face was blue and there was an indent on her neck caused by the bed frame.
The coroner’s office doesn’t suspect foul play was a factor, though a toxicologist found Davey had a high level of alcohol and prescription drugs in her system when she died. Davey, who also had a son, reportedly struggled with substance abuse.
“She was intoxicated, but she was used to that and it was part of her life I suppose at that time,” Chipperfield said.
The coroner conceded an altered state may have complicated Davey’s efforts to maneuver away from the convertible furnishing. Suicide is not suspected. Health officials sent notice of the victim’s unusual death to the British Business Secretary recommending actions be taken to avoid similar instances moving forward.
Davey was reportedly buried alongside the ashes of her teenage brother, who was killed in a 2013 moped crash involving a telephone pole.
