'No written warning' about chair

Lee died while playing with the new chair.

No warning leaflets were issued with an electrically-powered chair in which an eight-year-old boy became trapped and died, an inquest has heard.

Lee Entwistle became stuck while playing with the motorised seat belonging to his disabled grandmother.

Fire crews were called to the house in Manchester and he was pulled free but could not be revived.

The inquest at Manchester Coroner's Court, which was adjourned in 2002 after a witness collapsed, continues.

The hearing was told Lee Entwistle had been playing on the electronically controlled chair belonging to his grandmother, Margaret Duplex.

The chair had been delivered just two weeks earlier.

Lee became trapped in the chair's mechanism and could not be saved

Lee was left alone for a few minutes while his mother, Zoe Entwistle, made Mrs Duplex a cup of tea.

When she returned to the room, she found Lee trapped face down in the workings of the chair.

Firefighters tried to dismantle the chair and free the boy, but he had stopped breathing by the time he was cut out.

He was taken to nearby Wythenshawe Hospital with head injuries but was dead on arrival.

Handset 'confusing'

Manchester coroner Leonard Gorodkin said: "Although the chair had been in the home for a few weeks, it was the first time little Lee had seen it.

"Just before Lee was found, his mother had made Mrs Duplex a cup of tea.

"Lee was going up and down on the chair and during the few minutes Lee was alone a noise was heard in the lounge and that's when Zoe Entwistle found her son.

"She went into a state of panic and went to call for help. It was a very distressing time for Zoe."

The inquest heard that when Lee died in June 2000, there were no clear guidelines on the safe use of the chair.

No instructions or warning stickers had been issued and the handset controller which brought the chair up and down was "confusing".

The inquest heard that Lee was trapped face down between two bars, one pressing against his throat and the other against his neck.

The hearing continues.