TRAGEDY ON TEEN’S DREAM HOLIDAY
‘INTELLIGENT AND POPULAR’ 19-YEAR-OLD DIED SUDDENLY WHILE BACKPACKING AROUND ASIA, INQUEST TOLD
A “BRIGHT, intelligent and popular” teenager who hoped to join the Navy died suddenly while backpacking around Asia, an inquest heard.
Lee Bartlett, 19, was “living his best life” when he died at Vang Vieng Hospital in the Vang Vieng province of Laos on May 3 last year while two months into his dream trip.
During the inquest into his death, held yesterday at Pontypridd Coroner’s Court, it was heard that Mr Bartlett had worked tirelessly to save up enough money to travel to the region, which he had fallen in love with after his elder sister got married there earlier in the year.
The former Rhoose Primary School and Barry boys’ school pupil was found unresponsive in his bed in the early hours of May 3 in a hostel in Vang Vieng.
He had flown out to the country in March to meet up with a friend, Flynn Fawcett, who was already backpacking around the world, and the two were travelling through Laos together.
Assistant coroner Nadim Bashir was told that the pair had gone to bed as normal the night before his death, and Mr Fawcett woke at around 6am and noticed his friend was “breathing funny”.
He got up to check if Mr Bartlett was okay, and found him unresponsive and with blue lips.
Mr Bartlett’s parents Mark and Helen attended the inquest along with his elder sister Nadine. Mr Bartlett described his son as “such a sociable person” who was “bright, intelligent and popular”.
In a statement read out by Mr Bashir, Mr Bartlett said: “Lee didn’t really enjoy school that much – he was more of an outdoors person.
“He absolutely loved sports – football, athletics and rugby. We got on so well together.”
Mr Bartlett has a military background and he said it was this that had inspired his son, whose nickname was Barto, to apply to join the Royal Navy.
But leaving school after his GCSEs and aged just 16, he was still too young, and so started working hard to save up for travelling.
Mr Bartlett said the close-knit family, who live in Rhoose, all enjoyed travelling and that Lee’s elder brother Daniel and sisters Abigail and Nadine had embarked on their own backpacking adventures.
“He was a very hardworking person,” his father continued. “He passed his driving test at 17 and enjoyed road trips with his friends.
“He was a very fit, healthy lad, just a really happy lad, and he enjoyed himself.
“My son and daughters all loved going away travelling. His older sister Abigail got married in Thailand in February and he loved it so much he wanted to travel back there.”
Determined to realise his dreams, Mr Bartlett took any work he could, including at a sausage factory and then a roofing company. It was testament to his work ethic that he was “gutted” he would have to leave his job at the roofing company in order to go travelling, his father said.
“He was gutted because he didn’t know if he would have a job when he got back,” Mr Bartlett added.
“He was “overjoyed” when the company said they would hold on to his job for him.
Mr Bartlett left for Laos on March 2 and regularly sent pictures and updates of his adventures to his mum Helen. He was “living his best life”, both parents said.
A post-mortem examination initially showed Mr Bartlett had a heart which was “somewhat unusual” and further investigations were carried out. The post-mortem examination also showed Mr Bartlett had not suffered any injuries and there was no evidence of assault or restraint.
The subsequent report concluded that Mr Bartlett could have been living with an underlying hereditary heart condition which his brother Daniel lives with and takes medication for.
A toxicology report found traces of paracetemol, diazepam, and codeine in Mr Bartlett’s muscles and liver which, while consistent with normal use, meant these could not be ruled out as a cause of death.
Doctor Mary Sheppard, an expert cardiac pathologist, also looked at Mr Bartlett’s heart and in her report, read out at the inquest, she said: “If toxicology is negative, this should be labelled as a sudden adult death.”
Mr Bashir concluded there was “insufficient evidence” and said he had reached an open conclusion.
He said: “In my view there is insufficient evidence to support any other conclusion.”
He recorded the cause of death as “unascertained”. He also noted that the family history was “important in this case”.
He offered his condolences to the family for their “very sad loss”.