The box bed closes on her: trapped, a mother dies of suffocation while putting away her things

She was tidying up her storage bed, a completely ordinary act. Helen Davey, a 39-year-old British woman, found herself trapped when one of the furniture’s pistons failed, preventing her from breathing, the Daily Mail reported in mid-October 2024.

The mother of two, from Seaham, County Durham, in the north of England, began to suffocate when she found herself trapped between the mattress and box spring.

Found dead by her daughter

She was found dead on June 7. Her 19-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, discovered her mother’s body. Helen Davey was also the mother of an 11-year-old boy, George.

An investigation into the death of the 30-year-old revealed that she died because one of the gas pistons, which lifted the mattress, was defective, according to the British media.

“Her legs were bent as if she was trying to get up. I dropped everything I was holding and tried to lift the top of the bed off her head. (…) I noticed her face was blue and that she had a clear cut on her neck from the frame (…) I started resuscitation and noticed that she was not breathing.detailed the victim’s daughter in a statement read during the investigation, taken up by The Parisian.

Preventive measures

The mother was a beautician and worked from home.

The coroner has written to ministers warning that further deaths could occur if preventative measures are not taken. The Ministry of Commerce and Business is responsible by December 2, 2024 for developing a timetable detailing the measures taken or to be taken to prevent such a scenario from happening again, according to France Live.

Having trouble “digesting what happened”

The girl did not wish to comment when contacted by the Daily Mail. After the tragedy, she posted on Facebook that she and her brother were struggling to “digest what happened. No words can ever describe what we feel”.