Page 18 - IAV Digital Magazine #482

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Dad of Three Died In Freak
Accident After Wife Locked Him In
Steel Shed To Stop Him Drinking
By David Harding Contributor, Yahoo News UK
A husband died in a tragic acci- dent after his wife locked him in the garden shed to stop him drinking alcohol.
Car company owner Jonathan Daunter, 50, was shut in the steel shed while his wife Kim went out shop- ping.
An inquest heard dad-of- three Jonathan - who appeared on BBC's Countryfile with presenter John Craven - was an alcoholic in dan- ger of relapsing.
The hearing was told Kim shut him in the shed for his own pro- tection.
While he was inside, Jonathan started a motor- bike engine kept in the shed and passed out from the fumes.
He was found unconscious in the shipping
container that was being used as a shed at the back of his home when his family returned an hour later.
The inquest heard he died later that day from the carbon
monoxide poi- soning.
Police investi- gated the death but ruled out foul play.
Jonathan - known as Jon - ran a breaker's yard where he
kept old farming machines, 4x4s and motorbikes.
The inquest heard Jonathan had a "long- standing dependency on alcohol and had relapsed after seeking help".
Kim, 44, needed to go shopping from their home in Shirenewton, Chepstow, South Wales, but was worried about leaving her husband alone.
She told police: “I had to go to Bristol. I dare not take him because he could jump out of the car to go and get alcohol because of being desperate to get drunk.
“He had water and warm clothes in there.
"We locked him in there to make sure he would not go off and get alcohol. We were gone about an hour.
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