Laundry Kills

It's never a good idea to air your dirty laundry in public, but it turns out that airing your clean clothes in private can be fatal.

A MAN suffocated to death when he became trapped in the rungs of a clothes horse.

Father-of-two Brian Depledge, 38, fell backwards on to the drier, causing it to collapse, and then fatally lodged his head between the rails.

An inquest heard that his desperate efforts to free himself only made the compression worse, creating a “cat’s cradle” effect.

He suggested he could have tripped over a small stool in his living room, which was found at his feet. When Brian, of Bradford, was found in February, the clothes at the top of the airer were still wet, which would have put even more pressure on his neck.

Dr Philip Batman, a consultant pathologist, said the effects would be similar to hanging.

[Mirror]