A man in the UK died after attempting to eat a cheeseburger in one bite, an inquest has found.

Father-of-three Darren Bray, 29, was on a night out with friends in October 2015 in south Wales when the group picked up food from McDonald’s.

Mr Bray reportedly told his friends to “watch this” before squishing the burger into a ball and putting it into his mouth before he began to choke on it, the Guardian reports.

“I could see him trying to cough it up and he was making horrible noises,” his friend, Sam Bisgrove, said.

“I tried to hit his back to help him clear his airway.”

Paramedics performed CPR, but Mr Bray was pronounced dead at the scene.

An inquest found Mr Bray ate the burger at a friend’s place after a number of drinks and was one-and-a-half times over the legal driving limit.

Pathologist Rhiannon Trefor told the court Mr Bray’s death was caused by an airway blockage.

“There was an eight centimetre by five centimetre ball of food stuck at the back of his neck,” she said.

“Darren would not have been able to breathe with that in his airway. Death would have followed quite quickly from a choking of this nature.”