Hotel Charged After Guest Crushed by Wardrobe
A hotel chain is facing a three-week trial after a 21-year-old woman was crushed to death by a falling wardrobe in her room at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool. Chloe Haynes, a holiday park worker from Pwllheli, North Wales, was found dead under the heavy wooden wardrobe after a night out in the city in September 2022.
Britannia Hotels Ltd, which operates the Grade II listed Adelphi hotel, has been charged with 20 health and safety offences following a three-year investigation. The prosecution, brought by Liverpool City Council, also includes an incident in August 2025 when three-year-old Valencia Verdin suffered head injuries after a cabinet fell on her at the same hotel.
Court Proceedings Set for 2027
Judge Brian Cummings KC has fixed a further plea hearing for December 4 this year, with a provisional three-week trial date set for November 15, 2027, at Liverpool Crown Court. The hotel chain has yet to enter pleas to the charges.
Chloe's mother, Nicola Williams, 54, of Wrexham, has been demanding answers since her daughter's death. 'I need to know, as a mum, I need to know every detail. I don't know how long she was under there before she died. I just cannot believe my daughter is never coming home because of a wardrobe, for the sake of maybe two screws in a wall,' she said.
Details of the Incident
Chloe, a twin and one of five children, was discovered when her friend returned to the hotel room in the early hours of the morning. Two men from neighbouring rooms helped lift the wardrobe off her, but she had already been crushed. Three men, aged 26, 46, and 49, including the friend and the two 'Good Samaritans,' were initially arrested but later released without charge.
According to Ms Williams, Chloe had been drinking shots and was 'a bit drunk,' so her friend took her back to the hotel to sleep. 'It seems she has got up out of bed confused, not knowing where she is, and she's opened the door of the wardrobe, maybe thinking it is the toilet or the door to go back out of the room. It was a big, old, heavy wardrobe and it fell on her and crushed her windpipe,' she explained.
Mother's Tribute to 'Petite and Beautiful' Daughter
Speaking in September 2022, Ms Williams described her daughter: 'My little nickname for her was birdy. She was so petite, and when she ate, she was like a little bird. She was quiet, she was somebody who didn't speak unless it needed saying. She was beautiful, but she had struggled with confidence in herself, so she didn't really know how beautiful she was and that made her beautiful on the inside as well. She was very kind.' She added that in the last 12 months of her life, Chloe had been 'coming out of her shell' and gaining confidence.
Metro has contacted Britannia Hotels for comment. The trial is expected to examine the hotel's safety practices and the adequacy of furniture fixings in guest rooms.
