Beautician mother, 39, killed when faulty Ottoman bed collapses on her

A coroner has issued a warning after a businesswoman died in a freak accident when a faulty Ottoman bed collapsed on her head.

Mother-of-two Helen Davey, 39, suffocated when she became trapped in between the mattress and the bed base.

Neighbours said she was found by her 19-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who is known as Betty, following the tragedy at her home in Seaham, County Durham, on June 7. She also had an 11-year-old son, George.

An inquest into Ms Davey's death found she died because one of the gas pistons, which raised the mattress, was defective.

Yesterday it emerged Jeremy Chipperfield, senior coroner for Durham and Darlington, has written to the Government warning there is a risk of other deaths unless action is taken.

He said it was his duty to raise concerns with the Office for Product Standards at the Department for Business and Trade about 'the existence and use of gas piston bed mechanisms whose failure presents risk to life.'

In his report following the hearing, Mr Chipperfield said: 'The deceased was leaning over the storage area of an Ottoman-styled 'gas-lift bed' when the mattress platform descended unexpectedly, trapping her neck against the upper surface of the side panel of the bed's base. Unable to free herself, she died of positional asphyxia.'

Betty didn't want to comment when approached by the Mail, but following the tragedy posted on Facebook that she and her brother were struggling to 'process what had happened.'

'No words would ever describe how we are feeling,' she said. 'I can't even begin to process that it's real and your (sic) not just going to walk through the door.

'Mine and George's best friend from 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'd do anything for one more cuddle. Until we meet again my angel.'

Ms Davey ran her own beauty business, All Dolled Up, from her smart new build terraced home.

One local said neighbours were questioned by detectives after the tragedy.

He said Betty left their home on the night of the freak accident and hasn't lived there since.

The man said: 'We didn't know anything until the police and ambulance turned up.

'We had CID ask us questions, they were asking if there was anything suspicious. They told us there had been an accident and Helen had been caught in a position where she couldn't breathe. That's all they told us.

'I heard a rumour that an Ottoman bed had come down on her. It mustn't have been working properly because they spring up and down.

'The daughter went out for a couple of hours and when she came back, she must have found her. It's a tragedy.'

Ms Davey's death is the second fatal accident for her family after her brother, Luke, 16, died of a brain injury when he crashed his moped into a telegraph pole, in Hutton Henry, near Peterlee, in May 2011.