A married couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning at a cider festival after using a gas heater inside their camper van, an inquest has heard. Christopher Coll, 45, and Kayleigh Coll, 38, of Blandford Forum, Dorset, died while exhibiting at the cider craft festival in the New Forest on October 12 last year.
Discovery of the bodies
Their inquests, held separately at Winchester Coroner's Court on Wednesday (July 22), heard that the business owner and trainee accountant had travelled to the event to sell crafts and were staying in their van in a designated field for exhibitors on site. They were discovered dead by fellow exhibitor Alexander Huxley, who had spent the previous evening enjoying drinks and music with the couple, after he became concerned when they failed to appear at their stall at around 11.30 the following morning.
When he went to check on them and opened the van door, he was immediately struck by a powerful smell of gas, the inquest heard. He found a gas heater with a canister attached, and upon seeing the couple motionless in the rear of the vehicle, "turned around in shock".
Gas heater examination
A subsequent examination of the gas heater and cylinder revealed it had been in use with 10% of gas remaining, the heater had not been properly secured to the gas bottle, and a gas leak was identified. Hampshire area coroner Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp said: "We'll never know how the connection became disconnected."
Giving evidence at the inquest, Howard Jonas from Flogas, the company that carried out the inspection, explained that parabolic heaters should only ever be used outdoors or in areas with adequate ventilation.
Coroner's conclusion
In setting out the facts of the case, the coroner stated: "Overnight on the 11th they suffered carbon monoxide poisoning due to running a camper gas cylinder with a heater that was not designed for use in an inside environment." She told the families that she could not conclude their deaths were accidental, as it had been a deliberate decision to turn the heating on "with a totally unintended consequence". She therefore recorded their deaths as misadventure.
The coroner nonetheless raised concerns over whether safety warnings are displayed on heaters to indicate they must not be used in enclosed spaces. Ms Rhodes-Kemp said: "I will be contacting the manufacturers of the heater to see whether a warning is on the device itself, I think that may prevent a future death. All I can say is I am terribly sorry because it's an absolute tragedy for two young people to die like this."
Family tributes
The coroner further noted that the smell of butane gas detected by Mr Huxley was largely unrelated to their deaths, as it was odourless carbon monoxide poisoning that had ultimately proved fatal. Family members who attended the hearings described Kayleigh Coll as the kindest person imaginable, and Christopher Coll as a deeply loving, decent individual who "absolutely adored" his children and harboured ambitions to live off the land and become self-sufficient.
The inquest into Ms Coll's death heard testimony from her family indicating that this was an isolated occasion on which the couple had slept in the van, characterised as a "one off" while they were endeavouring to get their business off the ground.
