The daughter of a woman killed when an ottoman bed fell and trapped her by the neck has told how she battled to try to free and save her mum.

Helen Davey died when the platform of the gas-lift bed descended and trapped her face-up between the bed frame at her rented home in Seaham, on June 7.

The mum-of-two, 39, was found by her daughter Elizabeth who had returned home from a hair appointment, an inquest into her death at Crook Coroners’ Court was told.

 “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 court.

“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.”

Paramedics arrived and took over attempts to save her life, but Helen was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police and CSI attended and, the court heard, that one of the two gas pistons which makes it easier to lift the bed was found to be defective.

Senior Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield said he had seen a video of officers lifting the bed and “when it gets to a certain level it drops”.

He added: “One of the two gas lift pistons was defective.

“It seems it was in a condition which would have made it more difficult to escape. It seems to me that is a position which is dangerous.”

The coroner concluded her death was an accident.

“I find that it’s likely that it (the bed) pushed her down, possibly forwards to start with,” Mr Chipperfield said.

“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.”

Pathologist Dr Nigel Cooper gave Helen’s cause of death as positional asphyxia, meaning her body was in a position where she could no longer breathe.

Paying tribute, Helen’s dad Robert Casson told the court in a statement: “She was very independent, a strong individual with strong opinions and fiercely loyal.

“She was a loving mother to Elizabeth and George.”

Helen and Elizabeth were set to go shopping later that afternoon.

An inquest was held at Crook Coroners Court earlier this month.An inquest was held at Crook Coroners Court earlier this month. The coroner has filed a prevention of future deaths report saying the failure of gas pistons in such beds “presents a risk to life”.

In a letter to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and the Office for Product Safety and Standards, he said: “In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you have the power to take such action.”

A toxicologist found Helen had high levels of alcohol – almost four times the drink-drive limit – and prescription drugs in her system at the time of her death, and the court heard she had struggled with alcohol addiction.

Mr Chipperfield said: “She was intoxicated but she was used to that and it was part of her life I suppose at that time.

“Knowing that she may have been hit on the head and she was intoxicated, it may well have been more difficult (for her to free herself), I am afraid, because she was disconcerted.”

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The court heard she had messaged her ex-partner earlier that day expressing thoughts of self-harm.

But the coroner said, “I don’t think that she intended to do that,” ruling out a conclusion of suicide.

It is the second time the family has been struck by tragedy after Helen's brother Luke was killed in a crash in 2011 while riding his moped through Hutton Henry, near Peterlee. 

The popular youngster suffered a fatal brain injury.

Helen was buried alongside Luke's ashes, a funeral listing from June said.