Holidaymaker died in ‘freak accident’
A HOLIDAYMAKER was found dead after his head became stuck in a chain attached to a livestock gate during a “freak accident”, an inquest has heard.
Paul Lloyd Harvey, of Merthyr Road in Pontypridd, had been staying at Antshill Caravan Park in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, with his family at the time of the tragedy.
An inquest into his death, held at Llanelli Town Hall on Friday, heard the 39-year-old and his family had travelled to the caravan park, where they had been regular visitors in recent years, on Saturday, August 8, last year.
Coroner’s officer Hayley Rogers told the inquest that the father-ofthree had gone fishing several times during the holiday and that he had been “relaxed and enjoying freedom” following the easing of lockdown restrictions at the time.
On Tuesday, August 11, the day before his death, Mr Harvey had “eaten very little” throughout the day, had been drinking alcohol, and had been out in the sunshine.
Miss Rogers said: “At 10pm Paul’s partner went to bed and he went for a walk. At 1am on August 12, his partner left the caravan to see if he was nearby and phoned him but it went through to voicemail. It was not out of the ordinary for Paul to go for a walk after a drink.
“At 4am she woke to find he had not returned home and became concerned for his welfare. At 7am she got up and called for him around the caravan park. At 7.30am his friend came with breakfast for their fishing trip.”
The inquest heard that police received a call at 6.41am on August 12, from a farmer at Maesderi Farm, in Laugharne who had found a man in an unresponsive state against a livestock gate with a chain around his neck. Paramedics attended the scene at 7.05am but Mr Harvey was pronounced dead at 7.07am.
Mr Harvey was found with one empty can of lager next to him and another can that was full. A toxicology report detailed that he had an alcohol concentration of 139mg per 100ml in his system with 80mg being the legal drink-drive limit.
Police treated Mr Harvey’s death as sudden and unexplained but confirmed that there was no evidence to suggest there had been any thirdparty involvement.
Recording an accidental death conclusion acting senior coroner for Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire Paul Bennett said: “It seems to me that this appears to have been a completely freak accident.
“I don’t think that Paul intended to find himself entangled in this chain. By whatever mechanism that occurred we will never know. Whether he had not had much to eat that day and had drunk a sufficient amount of alcohol, whether that impaired his judgement we will never know.
“This is a case where it’s more likely than not that Paul’s head got caught in the chain and that became tight around his neck and he died as a result of asphyxiation.”