Fitness fanatic crushed to death by 40kg barbell which fell on his neck as he tried to work out after night of drinking



Christopher Bailey had been drinking whiskey with his landlord and another tenant before he decided to lift weights at their East Sussex home

The 28-year-old chef died after becoming trapped beneath a 40kg barbell

A cannabis joint was found next to the weights bench



Mr Bailey had bought the gym equipment six weeks earlier and cancelled his gym membership



A fitness fan died after he became trapped beneath a 40kg weight-lifting bar following a late-night drinking session, an inquest has heard.

Christopher Bailey, 28, was discovered by his landlord lying on a weights bench with the bar compressing his neck, in a gym set up in the garage of the house they shared in East Sussex.



Mr Bailey had been drinking Jack Daniels whiskey with his landlord Oliver Steer and another tenant, Kevin Mare, into the early hours of May 19 before he decided to lift weights in the garage, the inquest at Brighton Coroners Court was told.



Crushed: Christopher Bailey, 28, was found lying on a weights bench in the garage of his East Sussex home

Shortly before 1pm Mr Steer - who had since been to bed - found Mr Bailey on the weights bench with the bar lying across his neck.



A burnt out cannabis joint was found beside the bench in the garage of the house in Portslade , the inquest heard.

The 57-year-old managed to remove the bar and attempted to resuscitate Mr Bailey on the instruction of the 999 call handler, but the inquest heard that he had been dead for several hours.

Describing the discovery in a statement read out in the court, Mr Steer said: 'I saw Chris lying back on his weight-bench, as soon as I saw him, his face and colour of his lips, I knew something wasn’t right.



'I screamed and called his name. I lifted the weights from his chest and called 999.



'They told me to go back and do CPR, I did but he was completely cold and not responding.



'I carried on for a few minutes but I knew he was dead.'

'Catastrophic': The 28-year-old chef had been drinking before deciding to lift weights in his home gym

Mr Steer added that Mr Bailey had bought the weight-lifting equipment about six weeks earlier and had cancelled his gym membership.



The weight-lifting bar was loaded with 15kg of weights on each end with the bar itself weighing 10kg.

A post-mortem examination showed that Mr Bailey, a chef at a bakery, died as a result of compression to the neck.



Toxicology tests also showed that Mr Bailey was, at 274mg per 100ml of blood, three-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit with cannabis also found in his blood.



Pathologist Dr David Wright said: 'We are not as strong as we normally are when we have 274mg of alcohol on board, not so co-ordinated.'

Inquest: A verdict of accidental death was recorded at Brighton Coroners Court, pictured

Detective Sergeant Mark Rosser, of Sussex Police, added: 'Established body builders could lift a lot more than that but for a normal person, 40kg across your throat would be catastrophic.'



The inquest heard that Mr Bailey had talked to his sister Kayleigh Tedford during the evening and she told the inquest he was 'fine and happy'.



The family described him as a 'loving member of the family' who stayed in touch since he moved to Brighton from his home city of Nottingham in late 2011.



Recording a verdict of accidental death, Brighton coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley said: 'He has had a good drink, he’s decided he’s going to lift some weights, which is not a good idea, and he may have got away it.



'What has happened is that bar that is weighing 40kg, which is not lightweight by any account, has come down on his neck for whatever reason, he’s not able to move it and that has resulted in neck compression which has slowed his heart down and been the direct cause of his death.'

