Killed by her hotel wardrobe
Furniture crushed petite waitress after she ‘mistook it for toilet door in the night’
A YOUNG waitress found dead in her hotel room was crushed by a ‘heavy wardrobe’ after waking up confused and mistaking it for a toilet door, her mother has said.
Chloe Haynes, 21, was found by a friend with whom she was sharing the room at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.
She had travelled to the city from her home in Pwllheli, North Wales, for an engagement party the night before.
Her mother Nicola Williams, 49, said: ‘By midnight she had been drinking shots and so on and she was a bit drunk, so her friend has taken her back to the hotel to sleep it off, and then he’s gone back out.
‘It seems she got up out of bed confused, not knowing where she is, and she’s opened the door of the wardrobe maybe thinking it is the toilet or the door to go back out of the room.
‘It was a big, old, heavy wardrobe and it’s fallen on her and crushed her windpipe.’
Miss Williams said her daughter’s friend returned to the room in the early hours of September 10 to discover the horrific scene.
He shouted for help and two men from other rooms came to help lift the wardrobe off
Miss Haynes but it was too late to save her life, her mother added.
The emergency services received calls about a ‘concern for safety’ at 6.37am and police found her in the room.
The men who came to her aid were subsequently all arrested in connection with her death but later released without charge. Merseyside Police said they believe Miss Haynes died ‘accidentally’.
Liverpool Council confirmed the £33-a-night three-star hotel, which is run by Britannia Hotels, is now the subject of a health and safety investigation. A file has been passed to the coroner and a preinquest review will take place.
Miss Williams said she was determined to get answers about how her ‘petite and beautiful’ daughter died.
She added: ‘As a mum I need to know every detail. I don’t know how long she was under there before she died. We’ve been told somebody heard a noise from the room around 3am but didn’t report it. I cannot believe my daughter is never coming home because of a wardrobe, for the sake of maybe two screws in a wall.’
Paying tribute to Miss Haynes, who had a twin brother and three other siblings, her mother said she was ‘kind and caring’ and loved animals. ‘My nickname for her was Birdy – she was so petite and little and when she ate she was like a little bird,’ said Miss Williams.
Britannia Hotels has refused to comment.
‘She got up out of bed confused’