The father of a woman who was fatally injured by a faulty bed has shared his anguish over her passing.
Helen Davey, residing in the UK, died tragically after she suffocated when she became trapped between the mattress platform and base of her Ottoman-style bed.
The bed’s design includes a mechanism that lifts to reveal storage beneath the mattress.
While it’s supposed to close softly, a malfunctioning gas piston led to Helen’s bed failing to function properly.
According to reports, Helen, aged 39, was bent over the storage compartment when the mattress platform suddenly descended upon her at her residence in northeast England.
During court proceedings, Helen’s daughter Elizabeth recounted: “I went upstairs, my mam’s bedroom door was wide open and I saw her lying on her back with her head turned under the bed. Her legs were bent as if she was trying to get up.”
She further explained: “I dropped everything that I was holding and tried to lift the top of the bed off her head. The bed was no longer a soft close and could fall heavily if it was released.
“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. I noticed that her face was blue with a clear indent on her neck from the frame.”
In her findings, Durham and Darlington senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield identified that one of the bed’s gas-lift pistons was ‘defective’, leading to the ‘unexpected’ incident.
Chipperfield noted the accident caused Helen to ‘trap her neck against the upper surface of the side panel of the bed’s base’.
The inquest on 4 October concluded that Helen’s death was accidental, attributing it to ‘positional asphyxia’.
Helen’s father has since addressed the sorrow of losing his daughter, revealing that the family had previously lost their son Luke in another tragic accident when he was just 16.
Earlier this year, Helen was interred alongside her brother’s ashes.
Robert shared before the funeral, as reported by ChronicleLive: “Our hearts are broken as we bury our two beloved kids today. Helen, only 39, died 6 June 2024. Luke was 16 and died 21 May 2011.
“Both lost in tragic accidents and will be missed our whole lives. Our love and thanks go out to everyone who has contacted us with messages, cards and flowers. There are no words that cover it.”
Addressing the incident, a spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade in the UK stated their commitment to preventing future incidents.
They said: “This is a horrible tragedy and we’d like to express our sympathy to Helen’s friends and family. 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.”
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.