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Woman killed by malfunctioning ottoman bed

Helen Davey was killed when the mattress section of an ottoman bed fell on her. Helen Davey/Instagram
Helen Davey was killed when the mattress section of an ottoman bed fell on her. Helen Davey/Instagram
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LONDON -

A 39-year-old British woman was killed when a malfunctioning ottoman bed fell on her neck and asphyxiated her, a coroner鈥檚 report said.

Helen Davey, who lived in northeastern England and ran a beauty salon, died in June as she 鈥渨as leaning over the storage area of an Ottoman-styled 鈥榞as-lift鈥 bed,鈥 coroner Jeremy Chipperfield said in his report, released last week.

Ottoman beds have a base that can be raised 鈥 usually using gas-lift hydraulics 鈥 to access a storage space underneath. They are a popular choice for householders wanting to keep bedding or unseasonal clothes out of sight.

The mattress platform on Davey鈥檚 bed fell unexpectedly, 鈥渢rapping her neck against the upper surface of the side panel of the bed鈥檚 base,鈥 Chipperfield explained. 鈥淯nable to free herself, she died of positional asphyxia. One of the two gas-lift pistons was defective.鈥

Davey was found by her daughter, Elizabeth, according to a statement read in court and reported by local paper .

鈥淚 went upstairs, my mam鈥檚 bedroom door was wide open, and I saw her lying on her back with her head under the bed,鈥 Elizabeth said in court.

鈥淗er legs were bent as if she was trying to get up. 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.

鈥淚 noticed that her face was blue with a clear indent on her neck from the frame. I managed to pull her clear. I feared that she was dead as she made no sound. I started CPR and noticed that she wasn鈥檛 breathing,鈥 she said.

Chipperfield warned in a letter to Britain鈥檚 business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, that there is a risk of future deaths 鈥渦nless action is taken,鈥 highlighting the 鈥渆xistence and use of gas piston bed mechanisms whose failure presents risk to life,鈥 as a 鈥渕atter of concern.鈥

Under U.K. law, coroners must report to the relevant organization or government agency when they think action should be taken to prevent future deaths.

In the U.K. in 2022, 147 people died after falling from a bed and another 18 died by accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) told CNN, citing their analysis of the cause of mortality data collected by government agencies.

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