Father whose daughter died due to faulty bed also lost his son, 16

A heartbroken father whose daughter died when a faulty ottoman bed collapsed on top of her also lost his son in a fatal moped accident.

Robert Casson, 66, told friends there were 'no words that cover' the tragic deaths of Helen Davey, 39, and Luke Casson, who died 13 years earlier aged just 16.

Mother-of-two Helen suffocated when she became trapped in between the mattress and the bed base in the freak accident.

The self-employed beautician was discovered by her daughter Elizabeth, 19, following the tragedy at her home in Seaham, Co Durham, in June.

Luke, a Year 11 pupil, died of a brain injury when he crashed his moped into a telegraph pole near his home in nearby Hutton Henry in May 2011.

Helen was laid to rest alongside her brother's interred ashes at Station Town cemetery in June.

Mr Casson, a former miner, did not want to speak of the double tragedy when approached by MailOnline.

But he told friends on Facebook ahead of his daughter's funeral: '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.

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'There are no words that cover it.'

An inquest heard how Helen was trapped when the one of the gas-lift pistons failed on her ottoman bed failed, causing the heavy frame to collapse.

Elizabeth told Crook Coroners' Court how she fought to try and free her mother.

She said: 'I went upstairs, my mam's bedroom door was wide open, and I saw her lying on her back with her head under the bed.

'Her 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.

'I 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't breathing.'

Helen, who also had a son, George, 11, was described by her father at the inquest as 'very independent, a strong individual with strong opinions and fiercely loyal'.

Following the tragedy, Elizabeth posted on Facebook that she and her brother were struggling to 'process what had happened'.

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'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.'

Luke died on May 21, 2011, less than three weeks after passing his provisional test.

He took evasive action when he saw a Range Rover driving towards his moped.

However, he lost control, falling from the bike and hitting a wooden telegraph pole.

At his inquest in May 2013, Mr Casson told how his son, a pupil at St Hilda's primary school in Hartlepool, was 'extremely popular'.

He said: 'Even more so than we realised before his untimely death.

'He was caring and true and had many friends, both male and female, and I struggled to find a photograph where he wasn't in the arms of a young lady.'

A coroner concluded Helen's death, from positional asphyxia, was an accident.

Senior coroner for Durham, Jeremy Chipperfield, 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.'

He said: 'I find that it's likely that it (the bed) pushed her down, possibly forwards to start with.

'It is difficult to imagine how she ended up on her back. It may have been part of a struggle that took place while she was trying to get up.

'It is easy to see, I think, how being in that position, however, that arose, it would have been hard to stand up when she is on her back under a bed frame which I understand was quite heavy.'