A retired nurse died ‘immediately’ after falling down a manhole dug for utility works while walking home from a friend’s house.
Andrew Barker, 56, who was living in Bradford, Yorkshire, died in the early hours of Monday, January 22, when he fell headfirst into an excavated hole at a Northern Gas Networks (NGN) site.
A family statement, from ex-wife Sam and daughters Holly and Hannah, have described him as being someone who ‘loved to make people laugh’ as well as being ‘mischievous’, ‘intelligent’, and ‘scarily quick-witted’.
On Wednesday, an inquest at Bradford Coroners’ Court heard of a ‘chaotic’ scene when officers arrived on Highgate Road as Storm Isha had ravaged Bradford over the weekend before.
Emergency services workers said that barriers for the roadworks had been blown away from the area leaving the manhole uncovered with an amber weather warning for wind in place by the Met Office.
Matthew Deekes, who was managing the site on behalf of a subcontracted company, said he left the area at 4pm on Friday, January 19, with barriers and one sandbag on each in place, the Telegraph and Argus reports.
The court heard that in anticipation of the storm that Russell Kaye, Operations Manager at NGN, sent out additional support teams for its sites in Bradford across that weekend.
Over the weekend, the teams visited the site on multiple occasions after reports that the barriers had been blown away and added around 40 extra sandbags on Sunday evening, January 21, the court heard.
Andrew Barker, 56, of Clayton Heights, Yorkshire, died in the early hours of Monday, January 22, when he fell headfirst into an excavated hole
An inquest at Bradford Coroners’ Court heard of a ‘chaotic’ scene when officers arrived on Highgate Road
Emergency services workers at the scene said that barriers for the roadworks had been blown away from the area leaving the manhole uncovered
At around 7am on the Monday, a worker said they noticed ‘a pair of legs’ sticking out of a manhole.
Paramedics attempted to treat Mr Barker but he was pronounced dead at 7.29am.
Detective Sergeant Lee Worsnam said that no CCTV covered the specific area and that no eyewitness were found during the police investigation.
He suggested that it was possible that Mr Barker was trying to take a shortcut home before the fatal fall. The court also head other theories that he tripped over near the manhole or that he was affected by the adverse weather conditions.
The court heard that there was no evidence to determine whether the barriers were in place when the fall happened.
Senior Coroner for Bradford Martin Fleming said there ‘could have been any number of combinations that caused him to precipitate into this manhole’.
After considering all the evidence he said it was ‘more likely than not that Andrew died of an accidental death’.
It was revealed in a post-mortem that Mr Barker’s death was ‘immediate’ as his respiratory function was impaired due to the position he landed in.
Senior Coroner for Bradford Martin Fleming said there ‘could have been any number of combinations that caused him to precipitate into this manhole’
After considering all the evidence he said it was ‘more likely than not that Andrew died of an accidental death’
Detective Sergeant Lee Worsnam suggested that it was possible that Mr Barker was trying to take a shortcut home before the fatal fall
The post-mortem also found a ‘level of alcohol which could play a part in impairing judgement’.
It was concluded that concluded Mr Barker died from postural asphyxiation and alcohol intoxication.
He had 125 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood – 80mcg being the legal driving limit – with it being noted by Mr Fleming he was not ‘substantially over the limit.
Fraser Anderson, the friend Andrew had been with, said was ‘fresh’ when he left his house and ‘didn’t seem drunk’.
Mr Barker had been in his local pub the Boars Head on Sunday evening when Mr Anderson entered in at 10pm.
The pair then decided to go to Mr Anderson’s house near the pub at around midnight to continue drinking and listen to music.
They had a couple of drinks and a glass of whisky before Mr Barker left between 2am and 2.30am, the court heard.
Mr Barker qualified as a nurse in 1989 and began working on Ward 10 at Bradford Royal Infirmary and was about a year into retirement.
His family said that patients ‘loved his bedside manner’ and often ‘didn’t want to leave you and go home’.
The family added they had ‘many happy memories’ with Andrew and said, ‘dad was a joker and loved to make people laugh’.