Mother of 2 killed after being trapped by malfunctioning ottoman bed

A malfunctioning ottoman bed fell on a British woman, trapping her neck against the side of the bed and asphyxiating her, according to a coroner’s report obtained by USA TODAY on Monday.

Helen Davey, 39, was killed at her home in the harbor town of Seaham in June when a defective piston in a gas-lift ottoman bed caused the bed to fall, Jeremy Chipperfield, senior coroner for Durham and Darlington in northeastern England, said in a report.

“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,” he wrote. “Unable to free herself, she died of positional asphyxia. One of the two gas-lift pistons was defective.”

Chipperfield ruled the death as accidental.

Helen Davey described as ‘fiercely loyal’ loving mother

The Northern Echo, a newspaper based in the north of England, reported that the mother of two was found by her daughter Elizabeth after returning from a hair appointment.

“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,” Elizabeth said in a statement read in Crook County Coroner’s Court, according to the Echo. “I dropped everything that I was holding and tried to lift the top of the bed off her head.”

Paramedics attempted to revive Davey but declared her dead at the scene.

Davey’s dad, Robert Casson, told the court that his daughter was “very independent, a strong individual with strong opinions and fiercely loyal,” according to the Echo.

“She was a loving mother,” he said.

Coroner warns of gas lift beds

Chipperfield warned of the potential dangers of ottoman beds that use gas lifts in the report to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and the Office for Product Safety and Standards.

“In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you have the power to take such action,” Chipperfield wrote.

Ottoman beds have a platform that lifts the mattress to allow for storage underneath.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents told CNN that 18 people died by accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed in the United Kingdom in 2022.