- 2 days ago
Cause of Death -S01 Episode 1 - A Last Night Out / Episode 2 - The Man In The Bathtub
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TVTranscript
00:00:09There are countless factors that can lead to your death.
00:00:13A senior coroner, I deal with almost 4,000 fatalities a year.
00:00:19Royal Preston is one of the hospitals in coroner Dr James Adley's jurisdiction.
00:00:24Every single person in this mortuary that has died unnaturally is under the control of the coroner.
00:00:31Dr Adley can make any enquiries necessary to find a cause of death.
00:00:36If the coroner instructs the police to investigate, then that is what we do.
00:00:42In this series, for the first time ever, we follow the full investigation and unfold the mystery of any unexplained
00:00:51death.
00:00:51From the moment of arrival in the mortuary to the final conclusion of the inquest.
00:00:57It's allowing families to understand how the death occurred and deal with it in their own way as part of
00:01:04their own grieving process.
00:01:06This is the last bit to find out what actually happened to them.
00:01:11If you die here, if it's violent, unnatural or of an unknown cause, it's my job to find out how.
00:01:35I think we left Frank's about half-six to go up to Leyland.
00:01:38And the bus shelter was like probably about 100 yards away from Frank's house.
00:01:44There we go. Thank you.
00:01:49It was just going up Leyland, going around a few pubs and having a crack and a few beers.
00:01:56And I thought, yeah, we're going to have a good night.
00:02:02It's unbelievable. You know what I mean, what happened.
00:02:05It's like your worst nightmare.
00:02:13It's an emergency.
00:02:15Hi, there's two people live on the road on West Paddock, in Leyland.
00:02:20On the road.
00:02:22On the road?
00:02:23Yeah.
00:02:24Right, OK. We'll get somebody to attend, all right.
00:02:38Now then, Frank Grimley, it's reported that as they've come out of the club, he's fallen off the curb and
00:02:45banged his head.
00:02:46He's either fallen, had some kind of fight or whatever.
00:02:49He might have picked himself up and carried on walking and then it collapsed.
00:02:59Coroner's offices here are employed by the police, but the service is provided by Lancashire County Council.
00:03:06Each morning they receive a list of everyone who has died in hospital.
00:03:10And on that list today is 73-year-old Frank Brimley, who was found lying in the road.
00:03:17I've received a phone call today from an officer over at Chorley.
00:03:22A gentleman has died in ICU.
00:03:25Police have had involvement with him on the Saturday.
00:03:32So, they received a call early on Saturday morning of two elderly men in the road.
00:03:38One of the gentlemen had a cut above his eye, he was fine, but the other one lost consciousness and
00:03:43became unresponsive.
00:03:46The circumstances at the moment, we're not quite sure what's happened because the friends said that they've been out drinking.
00:03:51So, we don't know whether they may have had an altercation.
00:03:55We don't know whether they've fallen over drunk and he's banged his head.
00:03:59We don't know whether there may be a third party involved, we just don't know.
00:04:15When Frank Brimley was brought into hospital, he was given a CT scan before he died.
00:04:21For the coroner's investigation, this might provide vital clues to what happened.
00:04:26This gentleman's died basically of a large intracranial hemorrhage.
00:04:31This is a CT scan of the brain, which shows there's an area of bleeding within the brain, which is
00:04:36this whiter area.
00:04:37And then surrounding that, you've got a darker ring, which is some swelling of the brain tissue.
00:04:43Soft tissue swelling down here.
00:04:45Sometimes you get bleeds opposite to the area that was banged.
00:04:48It's what's called a contra-coup injury.
00:04:50So, it does have some evidence that he might have banged his head there.
00:04:53And if somebody pushed him and he banged his head, then that's, you know, changes the picture swelling.
00:05:13We are concerned that there might be foul play, given the circumstances of them being found in the road.
00:05:18It's quite unusual for two people to be lying in the road in the dark at that time of night.
00:05:25What I need to establish is whether there's been any kind of dispute, any kind of third-party involvement that's
00:05:32resulted in them falling in the road,
00:05:34or whether there's been some kind of road traffic collision.
00:05:37Ultimately, we just need to make sure that Frank hasn't been unlawfully killed.
00:05:42What's your name?
00:05:43Frank Brimley.
00:05:47He's put them straight.
00:05:52At a certain time in the night, everything becomes hazy and I probably can't remember anything after that.
00:05:59Nothing at all.
00:06:01obviously you think Ian might have done something
00:06:04I feel
00:06:05that's my fault
00:06:07and you know I could have caused it
00:06:12Frank
00:06:13hey wait for me
00:06:36because they do quite a thorough external examination
00:06:40we always need a ruler
00:06:41because they'll measure scars, bruises
00:06:43maybe some marks
00:06:48PM40
00:06:48that's the main knife used within an invasive post-mortem
00:06:52that either myself or the pathologist would use
00:07:00I think people like the outside world
00:07:03I don't think they realise the extent of how many people die a day
00:07:07no, there's a massive taboo about death though
00:07:09you can't talk about it
00:07:10no
00:07:10and I think it is a normal part of life
00:07:13and it is sad but it is a normal part
00:07:16yeah
00:07:16you know obviously we deal with like
00:07:19you know six, seven patients who die a night
00:07:21every single night
00:07:23so if you let that get to you
00:07:25you'd never be able to do the job
00:07:27and you'd never be able to get up in the morning
00:07:29I used to say to my daughter when she was really young
00:07:32she used to say what do you do
00:07:33I used to say I'm like a nurse that works with people
00:07:35who are obviously never going to get better
00:07:46we're getting there
00:07:48yeah we've been here since Sunday
00:07:51the Midlands near Coventry
00:07:53because Frank came from the Midlands
00:07:56Frank Brimley was a widower with no children
00:07:59his goddaughters have arrived from Loneaton to clear his flat
00:08:06right have these ones been done
00:08:08yeah
00:08:08just that one now
00:08:10that one
00:08:10have you done that
00:08:10yeah I've wiped that out
00:08:12I've got to get them rugs up as well
00:08:14there's rugs everywhere in the house
00:08:16so we've obviously got to empty the property
00:08:19and hand the keys in on Friday
00:08:21so we've literally got three or four days to empty the flat
00:08:23I don't think we've even had time to
00:08:25no
00:08:25just I've not had time to think about it
00:08:32I mean I've got really fond memories of him
00:08:34he was a nice man yeah
00:08:36he had a heart of gold
00:08:37his social life was
00:08:39going to the pub
00:08:40karaoke
00:08:41he didn't like spending money on stuff that weren't important
00:08:44you know he'd rather go out and have fun with his money
00:08:51Frank Brimley is a 73 year old gentleman
00:08:54who collapsed in the street
00:08:56and he'd got a bleed in the right frontal lobe of his brain
00:09:00and unfortunately as the bleed continued
00:09:04the pressure inside his head began to rise
00:09:07and this is particularly problematic
00:09:09because your skull is a fixed box
00:09:11and when you raise pressure inside the head
00:09:14it forces your brain stem
00:09:16out of the bottom of your brain
00:09:18and that interrupts all the centres
00:09:20that maintain your breathing
00:09:22your heart rate
00:09:23and you will not survive
00:09:28they rang us on the Monday morning
00:09:29but he said he's had another massive bleed this morning
00:09:32and we advised that you turn off the machine
00:09:35so there was only the tours weren't there
00:09:36and we was together
00:09:37and we said
00:09:38we need to do the right thing don't we
00:09:40we need to turn off the machine don't we
00:09:41so we held his hand didn't we
00:09:43and then we played some music
00:09:44we loved music
00:09:45so we asked Alexa
00:09:46just play some random 60s music
00:09:48so we turned his machine off at quarter to four
00:09:51and by four o'clock he'd die
00:09:57just heartbreaking
00:10:00this lot noise
00:10:01having to chuck people's things away
00:10:03and we didn't sign up for this
00:10:05having to make a decision
00:10:07to turn somebody's life support machine off
00:10:10it's not nice
00:10:14yes then
00:10:18we know that he went out with his friend drinking
00:10:20so he'd fell over
00:10:21brought his friend down
00:10:22and it had gone from there
00:10:23were they just fumbling along
00:10:25and fell
00:10:25but then they kept saying about the trauma
00:10:27yeah
00:10:28so to us that was a blow to the head
00:10:29we've had so many mixed messages
00:10:31we don't really know
00:10:32so what did happen
00:10:34oh my god
00:10:37how the hell did we manage to get that in
00:10:45Frank Brimley
00:10:47dear Alice
00:10:48comma
00:10:49new paragraph
00:10:49could you let me know where we are
00:10:52at with obtaining a
00:10:54statement from the neurosurgeon
00:10:56please
00:10:57question mark
00:10:59dr adley has asked the police
00:11:01to investigate the possibility
00:11:03of any third party involvement
00:11:05he will now need to wait
00:11:07for their conclusions
00:11:09coroners are only involved
00:11:10in deaths that are in some way
00:11:12unnatural
00:11:13basically there is something unusual
00:11:15about the death
00:11:16there is something
00:11:17that is not a natural disease process
00:11:20involved with the death
00:11:21the police are interested
00:11:23in deaths that are suspicious
00:11:25and maybe due to criminal activity
00:11:26now the two may overlap
00:11:28in which case the police take precedence
00:11:31because they have specific rules of evidence
00:11:33and have to comply with these
00:11:43Frank Brimley is not the only case
00:11:45that the coroner's team are investigating
00:11:49in Preston City Centre
00:11:50an unresponsive male has been found
00:11:53in the gardens of a public house
00:11:56he died shortly after arriving in hospital
00:12:00I've been asked to attend a scene this morning
00:12:03following the report of a sudden death
00:12:11the male was located around about this spot
00:12:14so it's up against the boundary wall
00:12:16and just to the side of this hedge
00:12:19our uniformed colleagues are usually first on scene
00:12:22an incident like this because it's called in as an emergency incident
00:12:25and then they've asked for CID to be made aware
00:12:28and our role is initially to establish
00:12:31that there's no third party involvement
00:12:33and then to carry out the investigation on behalf of the coroner
00:12:39so currently the male is completely unidentified
00:12:43so there's no personal identification documents with him
00:12:47we also have no witnesses in relation to the incident
00:12:53it was a freezing cold night
00:12:55and the man was found only wearing a t-shirt and jogging pants
00:13:01we are going to the mortuary
00:13:02I've got a gentleman in who is at the moment unidentified
00:13:06he came into A&E where he was pronounced dead
00:13:10we just have him as unknown unknown
00:13:11so we're just on our way to the mortuary
00:13:14to change the tags
00:13:15so that they match all our people
00:13:19please may I change the tags from
00:13:22Alpha Pappa to unknown unknown
00:13:27this case in this day and age
00:13:29is very unusual
00:13:31if you think about the amount of identification
00:13:33that you may have
00:13:35where you live
00:13:36your wallet
00:13:37your bank cards
00:13:38your mobile phone
00:13:39all sorts of information is on you
00:13:42this man had absolutely none of these
00:13:46so no one knows him
00:13:48it's really weird isn't it
00:13:49and everyone so far that's been rung in
00:13:51they've been able to
00:13:52okay
00:13:53yeah or discount because it doesn't match
00:13:59when somebody dies
00:14:00and there is no obvious next of kin
00:14:03because you don't have an identification
00:14:05the coroner will take control of the body
00:14:08I retain control of the body
00:14:10until my investigations are complete
00:14:12and then it's released
00:14:15we'll wait a couple of weeks
00:14:16to see what leads that we get to come in
00:14:18we will then do a body map of his marks and scars
00:14:21his tattoos
00:14:23get a dental map of his teeth
00:14:25and submit that with a full description of him
00:14:28to the UK missing persons day space
00:14:30and then eventually if we still have no one come forward
00:14:33we'll have to refer him to environmental health
00:14:35at the council to carry out his funeral
00:14:37unfortunately as an unknown male
00:14:46it's been 48 hours since the death of frank brimley
00:14:50and at the coroner's office
00:14:52investigations are continuing into the circumstances surrounding his fall
00:15:00hello alice
00:15:01hi
00:15:01i've got some more information about frank brimley
00:15:04oh right yes
00:15:05so i think doctor's statement suggests he fell outside of the
00:15:09of the conservative club
00:15:10yeah
00:15:11however the my sheet i think has a different address on
00:15:14right
00:15:15so they're just conflicting really
00:15:17what i'll do is
00:15:18i've told the police
00:15:19i think we just need to get cctv of the conservative club
00:15:21i'll contact the police this morning
00:15:23see whereabouts up to
00:15:24and then i'll let you know
00:15:25is that okay
00:15:25yeah of course
00:15:26thanks alice
00:15:26thank you
00:15:26bye
00:15:26cheers
00:15:44hello you okay there
00:15:46police licensing
00:15:49there's two gentlemen
00:15:50yeah right i've got it ready for you
00:15:52i know where it is
00:15:53it's frank
00:15:53right no problem
00:15:55i believe he came in twice
00:15:58yeah do a playing pool
00:15:59yeah you're right
00:16:00not back door
00:16:01games room
00:16:02yeah
00:16:03oh there you go
00:16:04that's him
00:16:04so at about five past eight
00:16:07they've just come in
00:16:07and they've just started playing pool
00:16:09and i'm sure he left around nine inch
00:16:12oh that's 2046
00:16:15so yeah this will be invaluable
00:16:17because it then means i can go back to other premises
00:16:20and narrow down the search
00:16:21the times yeah
00:16:22so you don't have to mess about as much
00:16:27oh he's back
00:16:28from what i've been told
00:16:29this is the last place they visit
00:16:31and then we know they leave at around about 13 minutes past midnight don't they
00:16:41so sad as well
00:16:42i would talk to him at front doors
00:16:44he was on about coming in for karaoke on saturday
00:16:46because he likes it he liked his music
00:16:48frank
00:16:48right
00:16:49love music
00:16:52i gave him a hug
00:16:53at the end of the night
00:17:17it's been 24 hours since the unidentified man's death
00:17:21so the plan now is to do a press release and social media release with the details that we've got
00:17:29so what i do is put a detailed description together so it's got his approximate age height and then the
00:17:39description of the tattoos on his forearm
00:17:41it's also got some surgery scars on there as well so hopefully they'll be the trigger for somebody's memory somebody's
00:17:49thoughts as a way of getting this male identified
00:17:55there's always a lot of interest with these things on facebook obviously there's a lot of people saying how sad
00:18:00it is
00:18:00a lot of people saying how awful it is for the family to find out over a press release but
00:18:05we wouldn't do this if we hadn't exhausted all the other avenues
00:18:10we just really want to find out who he is and find his family
00:18:27i live here where i grew up and frank lived about six doors down it's his grandma and grandos
00:18:34so i've known him you know 68 years
00:18:39he was like easygoing
00:18:42and like happy-go-lucky
00:18:45and that was frank
00:18:49so i got there two o'clock on the friday afternoon
00:18:51he'd done me some cheese on toast
00:18:53just sat down there talking
00:18:54and then he said like
00:18:56what do you want to do tonight
00:18:58so i said
00:18:59yeah i'll just as soon as like stay around here
00:19:02and then have a chinese or a chippy
00:19:06he said no we're going to go up Leyland
00:19:14probably midnight half twelve
00:19:17we've had a fair bit to drink
00:19:19i think after a certain point everything's gone
00:19:25i can just remember all the police cars there in a huddle
00:19:28sort of converging towards like a random circle
00:19:33nothing you read to me frank
00:19:36yeah
00:19:40apparently i said i think frank's dying
00:19:43so i must have been in a position to look at him on the floor
00:19:47but i can't remember that
00:19:49i can't remember saying that
00:19:54whether frank tripped and brought me down
00:19:57or i tripped and brought him down
00:19:59but you know you don't know what's happened
00:20:01you know you could have had an argument
00:20:04and when like the police come round to interview you
00:20:06you think like you might be under suspicion
00:20:09are you yeah i did yeah that worried me
00:20:16it's not fair on the families just to be told
00:20:18we've found your loved one lying in the street
00:20:21and unfortunately he's dead
00:20:22they need to know more than that
00:20:23they need to know
00:20:25how he's come to be lying in the street
00:20:27and what is the cause of death
00:20:30how are we doing
00:20:32oh my god
00:20:33they need answers
00:20:35we need to make sure as investigators
00:20:37that there is no foul play
00:20:38and then we can feed that back to the families
00:20:40and also feed it to the coroner
00:20:42and the coroner will decide whether the death was natural
00:20:46unnatural
00:20:46or even in some cases refer it back to the police
00:20:50if the coroner feels he needs further investigation
00:20:53close right
00:20:57sad
00:20:57sad and i feel like we've chucked him in the tip
00:21:00you know his belongings
00:21:01it's really sad
00:21:03you know now we can um
00:21:04obviously put him to bed
00:21:06but this was heartbreaking
00:21:08really heartbreaking
00:21:10you could set me off now
00:21:11i know i'm sorry
00:21:12i'm sorry
00:21:13i was just so tired
00:21:14i think that's the problem as well isn't it
00:21:16yeah i've been exhausted
00:21:18knowing you'll never come here again
00:21:40so
00:21:43hello presidency id
00:21:46right okay
00:21:47if you leave that with me
00:21:48i will er
00:21:49hopefully get to the bottom of it
00:21:50so
00:21:51it looks like we've got an identification for the unidentified male at the hospital
00:22:19the police received a call from a family reporting their husband missing
00:22:26the police have gone round and based on the information they took for the missing report
00:22:32they believed it to be this male that was found on wednesday
00:22:44the point of contact will be his brother and i've just made a phone call to him to ask him
00:22:49if he's willing to come to the hospital to assist with doing a formal identification
00:23:04when we go through and if you can just confirm that yes it is john and then once that's done
00:23:09i'll come back out and i'll leave you to spend some time with him okay is that okay yeah are
00:23:13you all going through together yeah okay
00:23:26yeah that's john yeah so that's john yeah yeah okay so if i leave you now to spend a bit
00:23:34of time with him okay
00:23:38okay
00:23:39you're all right
00:23:39you're alright lisa
00:23:40oh such a shame
00:23:45i wasn't wanting to do that why about
00:23:47i don't want to wait
00:23:48we'll find out
00:23:50yeah
00:23:52come on
00:23:53i want to wait
00:23:54we need some love
00:23:55come on lisa
00:23:57we'll find out
00:24:07the next stage now will be that now i've got the form identification i'll do an email to the
00:24:13coroner to confirm that yourself has identified john to me and then we can progress to the next
00:24:18stage which will be the ct post-mortem does john have any middle names no so it's just john
00:24:27hutton yeah it's probably one of the most difficult things that you have to do is to do a formal
00:24:34identification but we'll do our best to try and find out how it's going to be there for you okay
00:25:03the police are still investigating the circumstances around frank brimley's last night out
00:25:10what i'm looking at here is cctv from the conservative club at leyland
00:25:17graham comes out and sits on a low wall outside the club and then he's joined by frank and it
00:25:22looks
00:25:22like they're possibly waiting for a taxi and they sit there for a good 15 20 minutes before they
00:25:27both get up and they both walk off through leyland town center and then we next pick them up on
00:25:32camera
00:25:32on west paddock outside leyland civic center
00:25:37i'm trying to establish whether there was any problems that night whether he got involved in
00:25:40any disputes whether there was any fights with anyone whether there was any arguments with anyone
00:25:43was he assaulted before he was found in the road
00:25:48next bit of footage is from a private residence on west paddock at leyland
00:25:54you wouldn't be able to identify them from the footage if it wasn't for graham's footwear
00:25:59because he has a nice bright white pair of trainers on
00:26:01they walk along here and it's just about as they go into the shadows on the top left hand corner
00:26:07here
00:26:07that they go off camera for about four minutes
00:26:12and it's that period of time where we don't really know what's happened to them it's just too dark to
00:26:18see
00:26:41yesterday i met family at the mortuary to do the formal identification of the unidentified
00:26:46male that was found last wednesday family has confirmed it is that of john putton
00:26:51so i'm just going over to the mortuary now to attach the new wristbands to john
00:26:57so they can marry everything up ready for the ct scan to be done this afternoon
00:27:17john and me it was love at first sight i was 16 and john was 20 he was my first
00:27:25boyfriend
00:27:26and we've been together for 35 years
00:27:31i knew that he was going to be the one for me though you know john
00:27:36we'd be together forever
00:27:40i feel guilty that i wasn't with him you know when he died
00:27:46i would have rather been with him
00:27:52because i'm staying with my mom it's probably easier for me to keep going you know because i'm not on
00:27:59my own
00:28:03a few times caroline said they were in town and perhaps they would have gone
00:28:08they'd lost each other and he would go to his friends for a couple of nights
00:28:11and then come back you know but and caroline didn't think anything of it this time when that happened
00:28:18when he didn't come back but i'd seen this article in the paper earlier about a missing person they were
00:28:24trying to identify the police trying to find who this person was never never thought it was john
00:28:32i couldn't work out why john was found with just a t-shirt on and where'd he been all night
00:28:39and he'd gone out on tuesday and he'd had a jacket on just a bit of a mystery really
00:28:47john hutton received emergency treatment both at the scene and in hospital before he died
00:28:53now he is having a post-mortem ct scan in the igene scanning suite preston is one of the few
00:29:01places
00:29:02in the country who use a digital ct scanner designed to give a cause of death without the need for
00:29:09an
00:29:09invasive post-mortem we found a pneumothorax which is a collapsed lung on the left side of his chest
00:29:17however he has had a chest strain inserted which we can also see on the scan
00:29:23that's the pneumothorax and then just coming in here just this bit is the chest strain also
00:29:32this white blob you can see here that's a little bit of calcium in his right coronary artery
00:29:38so we will be doing a calcium score on him
00:29:50in the frank brimley case the coroner has to gather as much evidence as possible to establish
00:29:56how he died police have asked for a statement from the first person on the scene that night
00:30:07they were just exactly on this area you know so graham was just over there and he was sitting on
00:30:13frank was sitting on this side they could have been run over you know because he was like
00:30:20halfway into this side of road i don't know it was it was terrifying you know when i saw them
00:30:27you
00:30:27know they're like on the floor so i was just thinking what's going on but by the time i put
00:30:36them in
00:30:36the car with a police lady there so she just tried to you know ask their names and stuff frank
00:30:48i didn't realize on any point you know he's gonna he's not gonna make it or he's gonna die no
00:30:56frank was deteriorating so an ambulance was called before it came another officer arrived on the scene
00:31:05i'm an operational firearms commander for lancashire police and because i'm an armed officer
00:31:11that's why i would have to withhold my identity we were at another incident involving a group of men
00:31:19fighting with hammers in a neighboring town but it's on the same radio channel as this incident with mr
00:31:25brimley we've laid out coats and blankets on the floor and i've seen that his oxygen levels are very low
00:31:32and his heart rate is very high pouring him in the recovery position and keeping him warm resolved his
00:31:40oxygen levels and steadied his heart rate okay okay okay just relax yeah okay you all right just relax for
00:31:53me i'm talking to him because i know that he can hear me he can hear everything that's going on
00:31:59all our
00:32:00conversations and i'm asking him to move his right hand and you can see his hand his right hand slightly
00:32:07moving i knew he was seriously ill at this point you go there to keep someone alive and you've done
00:32:17everything you can and sometimes it's just not enough
00:32:34the coroner's officer is calling john hutton's brother to update the family with the possible cause of
00:32:45death hello hello it's alice coroner's officer okay i'm just going to let you know the results
00:32:50of the ct post-mortem have come back what they've said is there is a degree of coronary artery disease
00:32:55but they're going to await the results of the toxicology before giving their final cause of death
00:33:01so the results of the toxicology probably won't come back for about 10 to 12 weeks
00:33:06okay the coroner has ordered tests to establish whether any substances contributed to john's death
00:33:17there are so many unanswered questions about you know what led to his disappearance and where had
00:33:22he been in that time you know it was it was a very cold night it was wet he wasn't
00:33:29dressed
00:33:31appropriately he was t-shirt and jogging pants
00:33:37you know he was my younger brother so it was my responsibility to look after him and
00:33:43uh and certainly in the in the earlier years you know tried to help john guide him but again something
00:33:51about johnny he he had his own mind and he had his own ways and um certainly substances let's say
00:33:58and
00:33:58alcohol were you know part of that i did expect something like this for john in fact i guess
00:34:06i guess one of the surprises it didn't happen sooner to me that's probably the only surprise
00:34:31i'm going to do like a little memorial garden so this is where the canopy is going to go
00:34:36so it's sheltered and frank's frank's ashes will be there
00:34:47frank's friend graham is still unable to remember the events leading to frank's death
00:34:56the lady in the conservative club says she came outside to smoke and you were sitting on the wall
00:35:01and that's what she said it was before 12 o'clock but we can't understand what happened between 12
00:35:06and almost two when he got to a knee because she wasn't that far away from the club no sue
00:35:12came to me
00:35:12and they and he rang to say wasn't it was about 10 to two yeah yeah and obviously then sue
00:35:18just come
00:35:18and said she hadn't got much sense out of yeah she said you you obviously you were drunk and then
00:35:24obviously when i rang you in amy it wasn't much better but we were confused whether it was your
00:35:28alcohol or had you had a bang to the head yeah i actually i actually said you didn't know that
00:35:33i
00:35:33thought had you been jumped and somebody attacked you both you said to me when i was no yeah you'd
00:35:40have
00:35:40been more damage than that wouldn't you well you don't know do you have questions that it'll just
00:35:46be nice to get some answers it's harder for us and it's frustrating for us because graham can't
00:35:56remember you know and we want him to remember you know and little bits are coming back out so we've
00:36:02got
00:36:02to rely on ctv cameras and you're trying to build a picture of what's happened and so we're hoping that
00:36:09the
00:36:09inquest have got all the answers to our questions because that's the only way we're ever gonna find
00:36:15out i think
00:36:34good morning coroner's office alice speaking uh alice can i just give you a quick update on the uh on
00:36:39the
00:36:39frank brimley death please we've recovered the cctv from the town center um and five of the mine
00:36:45that we're not looking at any kind of foul play or third party involvement that's perfect that's fine
00:36:53the police investigation into frank brimley's case has ended with no criminal element but because it
00:37:00is not clear how he has died there will be an inquest to determine the cause of death
00:37:06it will be held at the coroner's court in preston
00:37:11the ultimate aim of today is to answer four questions who's died where and when the death
00:37:16occurred and how the death occurred how the death occurred is the more difficult question in this
00:37:22case we don't have any evidence of whether he fell or whether or not he had a stroke if he
00:37:28falls that's
00:37:29an accidental death if he has had a stroke that is a natural death mr raymond super do you want
00:37:36to come
00:37:36there i'll take you upstairs
00:37:42so what will happen is the coroner will open up the inquest he'll call the witnesses up one by one
00:37:50once all the witnesses have been heard the coroner will do a summing up of all the information he's
00:37:54heard in the inquest before giving his conclusion all right i'm gonna have to get your books and
00:37:59other coroner's key to start okay
00:38:22my condolences to all of mr brimley's friends and god daughters and i'm sorry that you're attending
00:38:28court under these circumstances could you tell me your full name please and the position you hold
00:38:33yes my name is gregory john hall i'm a consultant neurosurgeon at the royal preston hospital
00:38:37when we looked at the ct scan although he has a blood clot in the brain it's not particularly big
00:38:43and if this were all caused by a head injury i wouldn't have expected him to have had such a
00:38:47severe weakness of the left hand side i think the cause of death is probably that he's had a stroke
00:38:53so can i just clarify that you believe he had a stroke and that caused the bleed it wasn't a
00:38:59trauma
00:39:00that caused the stroke yes i think that's right
00:39:07what i propose to record is that frank brimley sustained a spontaneous stroke
00:39:12and was admitted to royal preston hospital where he died on the 22nd of november 2021
00:39:25i was really worried about what the outcome was going to be
00:39:29if i hadn't have gone up that weekend he could have still died in the flat on his own
00:39:34and that would have been you know that would have been catastrophic although he still died
00:39:38yeah that was a relief to me that i didn't sort of contribute to it
00:39:59toxicology results have taken 12 weeks to come back for john hutton
00:40:04there is evidence for the potentially fatal use of amphetamines there's also evidence of the
00:40:10antidepressant fluoxetine the combination of the fluoxetine and the amphetamine increases the risk of
00:40:17the serotonin syndrome serotonin syndrome happens when you have too much serotonin which is a normal
00:40:24chemical that your body produces and it's usually caused by taking drugs or medications that affect your
00:40:30serotonin levels it can cause confusion can cause seizures and it can cause a very high body
00:40:38temperature that's ultimately led to his death
00:40:50i've been doing this job for 18 years now i've never come across serotonin syndrome before
00:40:57this is a first it's the very unusual reaction between a prescribed drug and a social drug and
00:41:05the body heats up until the brain gets so hot that it doesn't function and you collapse and die
00:41:12john's running a risk that he didn't know the risk was even there
00:41:23he was a good brother there were lots of good times he was a character and he was pretty wild
00:41:30since john's death really i mean my thoughts have been more about remembering the um i guess the
00:41:35younger years when when things were better i think he had a good soul really
00:41:42i thought to like talk to him you know i just say miss like i miss you and i love
00:41:49you things like that
00:41:52yeah because he did look after me you know a lot he did he cared and i'll never forget him
00:42:00never
00:42:13so
00:42:22so
00:42:48Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen the beach here so calm.
00:42:51No, nor me. I've never seen it empty like this either.
00:42:54It's very peaceful. Very, very peaceful.
00:43:00I'll keep speaking to him as if he's actually sat there.
00:43:03Well, he is. You'd love it, all this attention, wouldn't you?
00:43:06Yeah.
00:43:08Like you say, I wish it was him, but...
00:43:09I know.
00:43:13The funeral was a nice day. We paid plenty of tributes to him that we could.
00:43:17He had obviously asked for a lot of requests, bizarrely,
00:43:20and we carried out all his requests that we could,
00:43:23hence us being here today,
00:43:24putting his final celebration to plan.
00:43:30We made a promise to him. We loved him. We wanted to do what he asked us to do.
00:43:37We wouldn't have let him down, and I hope we've done you proud.
00:43:40And I'm sure we have. I'm sure he'd be so proud of us.
00:44:08So, the shock hit me first.
00:44:10Had somebody broke in? Had somebody hurt him?
00:44:14It's like a mystery.
00:44:15So, really young?
00:44:17Yeah.
00:44:17And suddenly found dead in a bath full of water?
00:44:20Yeah.
00:44:23You just see a dark line across here.
00:44:26So, that's a rake in the top part of her neck.
00:44:30It's difficult.
00:44:31I don't think I'll ever get over it.
00:44:58It's difficult.
00:44:59I don't think I'll ever get over it.
00:45:11There are countless factors that can lead to your death.
00:45:15A senior coroner, I deal with almost 4,000 fatalities a year.
00:45:21Royal Preston is one of the hospitals in coroner Dr. James Adley's jurisdiction.
00:45:27Every single person in this mortuary that has died unnaturally is under the control of the coroner.
00:45:33Dr. Adley can make any inquiries necessary to find a cause of death.
00:45:39If the coroner instructs the police to investigate, then that is what we do.
00:45:44In this series, for the first time ever, we follow the full investigation and unfold the mystery of any unexplained
00:45:53death.
00:45:53From the moment of arrival in the mortuary to the final conclusion of the inquest.
00:46:00It's allowing families to understand how the death occurred and deal with it in their own way as part of
00:46:06their own grieving process.
00:46:08This is the last bit to find out what actually happened to you.
00:46:14If you die here, if it's violent, unnatural or of an unknown cause, it's my job to find out how.
00:46:38Andrew was turning 40 and we knew he wouldn't be doing anything to celebrate it, so me, my brother and
00:46:46my sister-in-law decided we'll throw him a little surprise.
00:46:53He'd come in through the closed curtains and he was so shocked.
00:46:56Yeah, big hugs off us all.
00:47:03When we found out that Andrew died, the shock hit me first and then in my head I was thinking,
00:47:10well, what's happened?
00:47:11Had somebody broke in, had somebody hurt him.
00:47:14Because it's like a mystery.
00:47:26A member of the public has made a 999 call reporting flooding coming from Andrew's house.
00:47:38We were mobilized to the incident at 1100 hours.
00:47:43There was water on the ground floor of the property, water coming down the walls.
00:47:49So we isolated the water supply and then we had to find the source of the leak.
00:48:02We believe that there's someone living in there, he's come through, he's concerned for safety.
00:48:05That someone's living in the address and now he's started flooding.
00:48:11With the amount of water in the property on the ground floor and the damage, it had been happening at
00:48:18least 24 hours.
00:48:20Sorry mate, go on, do you want to go in?
00:48:22No.
00:48:23You're more used than me.
00:48:24No, no, no, no.
00:48:25Yeah.
00:48:2710 miles deceased in the bath at this address.
00:48:30Roger, can you let us say I need you?
00:48:34One firefighter went upstairs to find the source of the leak and he discovered a person in the bath who
00:48:40was fully clothed and there was no sign of life at that time.
00:48:45It's like he's fell over isn't it?
00:48:48He's been running the bath and he's fell in it.
00:48:52I looked at the incident reports as it came in and just felt that it might be suspicious given the
00:48:58circumstances.
00:48:59He was lying partially submerged in the bath with his head under the water and his right leg over the
00:49:05side of the bath.
00:49:06There was an electric shower in the premises and the shower head had been pulled off and was in the
00:49:11bath with him.
00:49:12Once we'd removed him from his position submerged in the water, we checked the body of the deceased for any
00:49:18external injuries just to satisfy ourselves that there was no third party involvement in his death.
00:49:25He was then transferred by local undertakers to the mortuary at Royal Preston Hospital.
00:49:36At the moment, the cause of death isn't ascertained. It's possible drowning.
00:49:41I'm also questioning whether he could have suffered an electric shock whilst he was in the bath.
00:49:46The electrics in the house were in a pretty poor condition.
00:49:55When we researched him on the police systems, there was an incident earlier this year in July when he was
00:50:00struck by a lorry whilst out cycling.
00:50:03He was taken to hospital with some quite significant injuries at the time.
00:50:13So that is one thing that we will report to the coroner and the coroner will make a decision to
00:50:19see whether any further investigation needs to be done around that incident.
00:50:32Andrew Milnes was involved in a hit-and-run accident five months earlier.
00:50:36If this contributed to his death, it could lead to a prosecution.
00:50:40The coroner must now decide how to proceed.
00:50:42I'm now going over to court to have a meeting with Dr Radley with regards to the case for Andrew
00:50:49Milnes.
00:50:52Yeah, it's very knowledgeable in a lot of cases that we're not quite sure about.
00:50:56We can have a good chat about everything.
00:51:05So, this is a gentleman called Andrew Milnes.
00:51:09The question is, when they've gone into the background, this gentleman had a road traffic accident on the 8th of
00:51:16July where he was knocked down by a lorry.
00:51:18He spent some time in hospital and was on the trauma ward.
00:51:228th of July this year?
00:51:23Yes.
00:51:24Okay.
00:51:24So, do we need to have a look at whether the accident on the 8th of July is caused or
00:51:31contributed in any way?
00:51:32I'm sorry, how old was he again?
00:51:34This gentleman is 48 years old.
00:51:38So, really young.
00:51:40Yes.
00:51:40And fairly recent RTC.
00:51:42Yes.
00:51:43And suddenly found dead in a bath full of water.
00:51:46Yeah.
00:51:47Further inquiries.
00:51:48The people need to have a look at this first, because we've got no idea whether or not they're going
00:51:52to prosecute,
00:51:54or whether or not the death is in any way related.
00:51:57And the way they gather evidence, we'll have to give them the opportunity first.
00:52:05He's my age, and it's no age for this to have happened to him.
00:52:12I want answers.
00:52:14I want to know what happened, basically, and why this happened.
00:52:19Kind of piece the pieces together of the jigsaw.
00:52:44Andrew Milnes was a 48-year-old man who was found in his bath fully clothed, which is quite unusual
00:52:52to begin with.
00:52:54Also in July 21, he has had a serious road traffic collision with quite a lot of head injuries.
00:53:01And you want to know whether or not that has played a part.
00:53:14You have no idea whether or not this man has died due to some injury he sustained in this accident,
00:53:23deteriorating over time and causing his death.
00:53:26And if that was the case, the police would need to track down the van driver and there may possibly
00:53:32be a prosecution that follows.
00:53:39When Andrew Milnes had his accident, he was treated at the Walton Centre in Liverpool.
00:53:48The specifics of this case were that he was a cyclist not wearing a helmet who was clipped by a
00:53:54truck.
00:53:55And he fell off and obviously sustained a number of injuries.
00:53:59So he had the full initial assessments which include examination of the heart, lungs, the spine, the chest and then
00:54:06the imaging.
00:54:14Andrew sustained cerebral contusions or bruising within the surface of the brain.
00:54:19He also had a fracture involving the right side of the skull going down in this region.
00:54:24The reason why he's had the bruising, if you imagine a sudden deceleration, will cause the brain to shift within
00:54:31the skull.
00:54:32And as a result of that, what happens is the brain hits the rough portions of the skull.
00:54:40And he has bruising within the frontal lobe and within the temporal lobe on the left, which will hit that
00:54:45region.
00:54:50As well as that, he had a fracture within the spine, a rib fracture.
00:54:56He also had a fracture within his pelvis.
00:55:00There are things about head injuries that we worry about in the long term.
00:55:04He had issues with headaches, dizziness, tinnitus and short term memory problems.
00:55:17To be honest, I don't know a lot about his accident.
00:55:20He never told any of us what's happened, never asked any of us for a lift to any hospital appointments,
00:55:26anything.
00:55:27I don't know whether he feels like he was bothering us or he didn't want to worry us.
00:55:32Knowing how full extent of the accident, it's totally different from what he said.
00:55:38He would never come out and tell me, oh, the fella hit him, he drove off.
00:55:43There was none of that ever happening. It was just more, oh, what happened?
00:55:47Oh, he got knocked off my bike. I went, daft sod.
00:55:51He was a very private, very private person.
00:55:55I'm glad we've got these memories of him, actually.
00:55:58This one was my brother's 40th birthday.
00:56:02Andy really enjoyed it, yeah, he loved that day.
00:56:05Yeah, he looks really well there.
00:56:08I met Andy when I was 15.
00:56:10We did everything together, you know, holidays, many parties, trips away.
00:56:15You know, we've done a lot of things together.
00:56:17He's just a lovely fella.
00:56:23When I see the video, it's strange, because when he comes in, he hugs me.
00:56:29I feel it. I can still feel that hug.
00:56:32I've known him for about 30 years.
00:56:35My brother became friends with Andrew, and he brought him to our local pub once.
00:56:41And then as we got to know him, he became part of our family, really.
00:56:45Not a bad bone in his body.
00:56:47Just a gentle person, he was.
00:56:50When I heard Andrew passed, I just felt my old stomach just...
00:56:54I don't even speak about it now.
00:56:55I just felt my old stomach just drop.
00:56:59It does cross your mind, that.
00:57:01Why's he in the bath?
00:57:02And why's the tap been running?
00:57:04I mean, these are very mysterious to me.
00:57:07To find out how he died, I think that should be a priority.
00:57:24At Royal Preston Hospital, coroner's officer Alice has a new case.
00:57:30Hello, is that Mr Charnley?
00:57:31My name is Alice, I'm a coroner's officer based at Royal Preston Hospital.
00:57:36I've obtained a statement from the treating clinician,
00:57:39who's given us the circumstances of what happened to Margaret,
00:57:43how she came to be in hospital,
00:57:45what scans and examinations she had and the diagnosis,
00:57:49and what the outcome was.
00:57:51Now, that statement will be sent over to the coroner
00:57:53to request that we open up a case and have an inquest.
00:57:57One of the areas under the coroner's jurisdiction
00:58:00is the approval of organ donation.
00:58:12Well, I was at work, and I missed a call off my mobile,
00:58:17and he'd rung work's office.
00:58:19Something never happened.
00:58:20They're like, can you ring your brother back?
00:58:22Oh, no, this is strange.
00:58:24So I rung him.
00:58:27And he said she'd need to come round to your mum's house,
00:58:30and mum's had a thought, she banged her head.
00:58:35All right, Margaret.
00:58:37And I've come round and it's just been like that since then.
00:58:40So it's just, it's just unreal.
00:58:4669-year-old Margaret Charnley was brought into intensive care
00:58:50after a fall at home.
00:58:53She has remained unconscious.
00:58:56Margaret had a cardiac arrest.
00:58:58Her heart stopped beating and she stopped breathing.
00:59:00And it takes probably about three minutes after your heart has stopped
00:59:04before your brain starts showing the effects of being starved of oxygen.
00:59:07In Margaret's case, it probably occurred
00:59:09because she damaged the top part of her neck.
00:59:13You can just see a dark line across here.
00:59:16So that's representative of the break in the bone.
00:59:19Ordinarily, this bright white line here should just be continuous
00:59:23without the break in it.
00:59:2655%.
00:59:27Has that been creeping up again over the morning?
00:59:29It's just the past half now.
00:59:32We've been observing Margaret now for the last 48 hours
00:59:35and sadly Margaret is not going to recover from this state.
00:59:39This is now likely to be her long-term prognosis.
00:59:45They spelt it out to us.
00:59:47The best scenario, if she came round, she would be brain damaged and paralysed.
00:59:53And the specialist said they didn't think she'd come round at all
00:59:58and any decision that had to be made would be met by them.
01:00:03I wouldn't have to make that decision.
01:00:05I'm grateful for that really.
01:00:07Because I don't know how I could have said,
01:00:10not that machine enough.
01:00:19People in this situation are still alive.
01:00:23Their circulation is continuing.
01:00:24They're still breathing.
01:00:26So they are organ donation candidates.
01:00:31The first approval for organ donation must come from the family.
01:00:36We didn't know she'd put herself on the register as well,
01:00:39but she did it in 2008.
01:00:41We feel better for it.
01:00:43Yeah, it's what my mum would want.
01:00:44This isn't she don't own me, so it's...
01:00:47She'd made the decision, yeah.
01:00:48But we could still have said no.
01:00:51But if she wanted to do it, then she does it.
01:00:53Let my mum be my mum.
01:00:54She'd do anything to help anybody.
01:00:56Yeah.
01:00:59It's right that the family should have the opportunity
01:01:02to consent to donate organs.
01:01:06Families find huge satisfaction and comfort in this,
01:01:09that they can donate organs to help somebody else live.
01:01:17Because Margaret has had a trauma,
01:01:20we have to ask the coroner for permission for organ donation
01:01:22to take place, because it would be something
01:01:25which would require a coronial inquest.
01:01:31PHONE RINGS
01:01:33Hello, Dr Roberts.
01:01:34The coroner's word's final.
01:01:36So whatever the coroner says goes.
01:01:39She fell in her home
01:01:41and suffered a cardiac arrest as a consequence of that.
01:01:44Uh-huh.
01:01:45As long as he's happy that the death has occurred naturally
01:01:48or there's no suspicious circumstances,
01:01:51then he'll be happy for donation to go ahead.
01:01:54All right, were the police involved? Were they called?
01:01:56They were happy.
01:01:57There was no need to investigate under the circumstances.
01:02:00In that case, I'm happy to consent for all organs,
01:02:03all tissues, transfer to the National Tissue Donation Centre at SPEAK.
01:02:08Lovely. Thank you, Dr Aidley.
01:02:11Mrs Charnley is an obvious candidate for organ donation.
01:02:14As the hospital is able to give us a cause of death
01:02:18from the CT scan and the treatment on ITU,
01:02:20we have no need for a post-mortem,
01:02:22so she can donate every healthy organ that she has.
01:02:30With families like yourselves that are supporting your mum's decision,
01:02:34you know, it's amazing.
01:02:36It is. She's incredible.
01:02:38You should all be so proud of what she's done
01:02:40by putting herself forward on the register
01:02:42and really proud of yourselves as well for supporting it.
01:02:46So, yeah, I'll go and see if there's any more information we can update you with
01:02:50and let's give you a better idea.
01:02:56With the coroner's approval,
01:02:58the organ donation team begin preparations for Margaret's removal of care.
01:03:02Last name spelt C-H-A-R-N-L-E-Y.
01:03:27At Royal Preston Hospital, the coroner has ordered a home office post-mortem for Andrew Milnes,
01:03:33which will be performed by a forensic pathologist.
01:03:37The difference between a home office post-mortem and a normal one,
01:03:40there could be some form of third-party involvement,
01:03:44so it's not always actual murder.
01:03:46So, if someone died at work in a health and safety accident
01:03:49and sometimes, like, road traffic accidents,
01:03:52they tend to fall under this bracket
01:03:54because you could have died because of someone else's actions.
01:04:02Detective Inspector Steve Monk is in attendance today.
01:04:06Hello, Danny, I'm Audrey.
01:04:09Hi, Danny, it's Steve Monk.
01:04:10Hi.
01:04:17Do you want to just give me a little bit of a history?
01:04:19Because I've not been dealing with this case.
01:04:20Okay, it's a 48-year-old chap.
01:04:22Yeah.
01:04:22He's been found deceased in a bath full of water.
01:04:25Right, okay.
01:04:26So we're querying, is it medical,
01:04:28or it could be linked to a fail-to-stop,
01:04:31hit-and-run-road traffic collision
01:04:32where he's knocked off his bike, suffered a head injury.
01:04:35And what I'm trying to find out is,
01:04:37is his death linked to a criminal act?
01:04:41With a home office post-mortem,
01:04:44they are long-involved procedures,
01:04:46and the home office pathologists have to
01:04:48spend a considerable amount of time
01:04:51reviewing all of the information they've got,
01:04:54relating it to their findings,
01:04:56and giving you a report
01:04:58that will not only stand up to general examination,
01:05:02it will be sufficient to stand up in a criminal court.
01:05:12When I've done some research on the male in question,
01:05:15he lived alone,
01:05:16and we knew he'd last been seen Thursday night, Friday morning.
01:05:20The circumstances aren't clear.
01:05:22The male was clothed,
01:05:24so I make an assumption that he wasn't having a bath.
01:05:27Has he drowned?
01:05:28Has he fell and banged his head?
01:05:31Or was he dead before he went into the water?
01:05:34At this moment in time,
01:05:35I cannot say how this man has died.
01:05:59In the mortuary at Royal Preston Hospital,
01:06:02DI Steve Monk has been attending the home office post-mortem of Andrew Milnes.
01:06:07In the mortuary at Royal Preston Hospital,
01:06:08I deal with a lot of death-related investigations,
01:06:11and what I want to be able to do at some point
01:06:14is go back to the family and tell them exactly how that person has become their death.
01:06:23Andrew's medical records also show a number of issues following his bicycle accident,
01:06:29including tinnitus, which he had written about in his diaries.
01:06:33Sounds come and goes louder.
01:06:36With the sound there all day as well, every day.
01:06:38I get the hissing sound all day in my head,
01:06:41and then another sound comes in which it gets louder.
01:06:47He's rubbing his head to get the sounds out of his head.
01:06:50Can't get to sleep.
01:06:51That sound must have been driving him mad.
01:06:54If it's in his ears all the time, his balance is off a bit.
01:07:00Some of it does surprise me.
01:07:02It's upsetting to learn more about how severe it was, you know.
01:07:08Andrew also had a history of OCD.
01:07:12I mean, his routines in his house were terrible.
01:07:15The back door was, the handle was just weird away.
01:07:19It just, it had to move it up and down so many times.
01:07:22The front door, I could not let myself out.
01:07:24As soon as I touched that door, he'd have to come behind it and hold the door.
01:07:28His book work was so straight, his pencils were so straight, the table.
01:07:32Everything downstairs was not touched.
01:07:37Andrew painted to help with his mental health issues.
01:07:42I mean, this picture is, I've watched him do this.
01:07:45I've watched him do it.
01:07:48It fascinates me.
01:07:49Because this is Andrew, this is his work.
01:07:53That's part of him.
01:07:55He's happy when he's done this.
01:07:57You know, he wasn't suffering with OCD.
01:07:59He wasn't suffering with any of that.
01:08:00That stuff, I know he was, it helped him.
01:08:03Because it's like, I know he was happy doing it.
01:08:13Post-mortem started around 2.30.
01:08:16It's just finished at 5 o'clock.
01:08:17Very interesting results.
01:08:19The pathologist, who's done well over 2,000 post-mortems,
01:08:23said it's only the second time that she's come across this cause of death.
01:08:26And it would appear it's a medical episode.
01:08:30So, no connection at all to the road traffic collision,
01:08:33which we suspected may have been a contrary true factor.
01:08:37As far as I'm concerned now, my investigation is concluded.
01:08:40So there's no further police investigation.
01:08:45Although the police have ruled out any third party involvement in Andrew's death,
01:08:50the coroner still needs to understand the details of the medical episode.
01:08:56The home office pathologist with whom we work will send us an initial cause of death,
01:09:01but you are literally getting one or two lines on the basis of what they have found
01:09:05and can see it post-mortem.
01:09:07And they will then go away and look at the histology,
01:09:13the small tissue samples and any other things that they wish to look at.
01:09:17At this moment, I'm going to wait for the home office pathologist's report
01:09:21before I make a decision, because I'm not entirely certain
01:09:24until I actually see the reasoning that she has used to go through the process
01:09:29as to quite what I am looking at.
01:09:32To make a decision now, we'll be jumping the gun.
01:09:53This is actually where she fell.
01:09:58I was downstairs making sandwiches and tea, and all I heard was a bang.
01:10:03And her head was here, and her legs were going down there.
01:10:08She was this wrapped round her legs.
01:10:17Nobody can believe how much damage she did to herself.
01:10:21Just putting that Christmas tree box away.
01:10:26999 right away as I got to her.
01:10:29So then I carried her to the best of my ability.
01:10:35Down here.
01:10:39And I laid her down.
01:10:40Then I was given the CPR here.
01:10:43I just thought she was knocked out.
01:10:44But obviously, she wasn't breathing.
01:10:50Margaret was loving to everybody.
01:10:53She'd help anybody out who she could help out.
01:10:56Just an all-round good egg, really.
01:11:02She loved going to different places.
01:11:04Different cultures.
01:11:06Margaret had the international caps for shopping.
01:11:09She loved her shopping.
01:11:14She just loved koala bears, and anything to do with koala bears, if you saw something in a shop, you'd
01:11:18have to buy it.
01:11:19I mean, yeah, she'd go anywhere for koala bears.
01:11:24So, anything to do with koalas, really, that's what I'd remember my mum by.
01:11:30She loved the party, she loved getting dressed up.
01:11:33She just loved life, really.
01:11:37She'd do anything for anybody.
01:11:39She's the glue that kept the three of us together, more or less.
01:11:44But my mum was a person, she would always have a way to help somebody else.
01:11:49So, being a donor is quite fitting, perfect for the kind of person that she was.
01:12:02Are you guys okay if we just hop in, just to give you a little update?
01:12:06Is that okay?
01:12:07Oh, sorry.
01:12:07This is Laura, my cousin.
01:12:09Hello, Laura.
01:12:09And Barbara's niece.
01:12:10And this is Ellie.
01:12:12Hi, Ellie.
01:12:12Laura's daughter.
01:12:14I just wanted to give you a bit of a further update.
01:12:17Yeah.
01:12:18And we have now had both of her kidneys accepted by transplant centres.
01:12:23And we've also had her liver accepted as well.
01:12:26So, she's going to save three lives?
01:12:28Hopefully, yes.
01:12:29Hopefully, yes.
01:12:29That was amazing.
01:12:32Guys, we're just so sorry that you're even here in this situation today.
01:12:35It's not what you expected.
01:12:36It's been three days of not knowing and then knowing everything.
01:12:41Just a whirlwind, really.
01:12:42What we've also done as well is we've mobilised the special team of surgeons to come to the hospital.
01:12:48And they're due to arrive on site at around five o'clock this evening.
01:12:52And then, once everybody's ready, that's when we'll be taking Margaret off the ventilator.
01:13:01Unfortunately, there's always a really tragic circumstances for organ donors.
01:13:05These situations usually happen so quickly.
01:13:08They're usually as a result of a tragic accident.
01:13:11And the families are incredible.
01:13:14They're going through the worst time of their life.
01:13:16You know, the last few days of this family have been, you know, awful for them.
01:13:19They're losing the most precious person in their life.
01:13:22And then to consider organ donation as well, it's incredible.
01:13:26It really is.
01:13:40In the Andrew Milnes case, the report has been sent to Dr Adley by the pathologist.
01:13:48What she's explained in here is that he has got a cardiomyopathy,
01:13:53which is a range of conditions that affects the heart muscle, cardiomyopathy heart muscle.
01:14:01With this, he's got an arrhythmia, so his heart is not pumping blood effectively.
01:14:07On this occasion, it is possible he could have lost consciousness, falls into the water and is unable to extricate
01:14:13himself.
01:14:16I just don't know at the moment. It needs to be resolved in the inquest.
01:14:26So I've received an update from court regarding Andrew Milnes.
01:14:30It's actually going through for an inquest.
01:14:33The reason we have an inquest is so the coroner can answer a set of questions.
01:14:37Who's died? When have they died? Where have they died?
01:14:40And how they've come about the death.
01:14:43The coroner's officer must update Andrew's next of kin, his mum.
01:14:50Hi, my name is Alice. I'm a coroner's officer at Royal Preston Hospital.
01:14:55The inquest, is that something you'd like to attend?
01:14:58Yes.
01:14:59You'd like to attend?
01:15:00So what I'll do is I'll link in with Steve Monk, the inspector,
01:15:04and I'll find out what information, what statements he's got so far,
01:15:07and then I'll be in touch in the next couple of weeks.
01:15:10All right, thank you.
01:15:11All right then, take care.
01:15:12Bye.
01:15:13Bye-bye.
01:15:24On ICU at Royal Preston Hospital, the staff are preparing for Margaret's final hours.
01:15:31Time is always of the essence in any donation situation.
01:15:36The organ donation needs to be planned and organised before the death has occurred.
01:15:48We've mobilised a team in preparation for her to donate her organs.
01:15:52But all this is still very much up in the air if it's going to go ahead or not,
01:15:57because we are relying upon a lot of factors to happen.
01:16:00The main factor is that when we come to withdraw care on Margaret,
01:16:04then we are waiting for her to pass away.
01:16:07But if she doesn't pass away in a three-hour period,
01:16:11then donation can't happen in this case.
01:16:14Well, everything goes to plan with the organ donations.
01:16:18We've got two kidneys and a liver, which is absolutely fantastic news.
01:16:25And we'll just have to see how it goes.
01:16:28So the team arrives in 6pm, and we'll move Margaret to the theatre complex
01:16:35and go to the anaesthetic room there.
01:16:39You all right, Alan?
01:16:40Is it time to move?
01:16:41Not yet.
01:16:42The team have arrived on site.
01:16:45They're, like, literally round the corner.
01:16:47I need to go and speak to them yet, and then we'll organise things from there.
01:16:52Good.
01:16:53All right.
01:16:54Who'd have thought we'd be doing this today?
01:16:56Yeah.
01:16:57Margaret, eh?
01:16:58Who'd have thought?
01:17:01It's unbelievable.
01:17:07She's comfy.
01:17:12We've got Margaret Charnley.
01:17:14OK.
01:17:15She's 69 years old.
01:17:17In regards to organs being accepted,
01:17:20Manchester have accepted both kidneys.
01:17:23OK.
01:17:24That's fine.
01:17:30Is she moving now, Ben?
01:17:35It is a very emotional time, understandably.
01:17:38You know, they are, in essence, going to watch her take her final breaths and to die.
01:17:43But I think for the family, it might provide some relief for them.
01:17:46They know she's not going to get better, but I think it will give some closure to the family and
01:17:52some peace for them as well.
01:17:54You're on the move, Mum.
01:17:56You're on the move, Mum.
01:18:00You're on the move, Mum.
01:18:02We're just glad now that she's going to be put out through her misery, really.
01:18:11All right, Alan.
01:18:11I'll be with you, OK?
01:18:13Yeah, I'll follow her behind her.
01:18:15You're on the move, sweetie?
01:18:17You're on the move.
01:18:17You're on the move.
01:18:18You're on the move.
01:18:19You're on the move.
01:18:20You're on the move.
01:18:21My mum would have hated to live the way a survivor would have given her.
01:18:26She would say, if I get to that point in life, switch it off.
01:18:30Don't let me live like that.
01:18:33It's like something that happened to somebody else, not something that happens to you.
01:18:38Some days it doesn't seem real.
01:18:41And then some sort of register with you that you're never going to see or never going to talk to
01:18:45again.
01:18:49You think you've got time, and then it's snubbed out, and it's hard.
01:19:01Margaret was loving, helpful to everybody, just love life in general.
01:19:09She was special.
01:19:18I don't think I'll ever get over it.
01:19:21At this moment, it's difficult, difficult to get over.
01:19:57It's the day of Andrew Milnes's inquest.
01:20:03So the inquest today for Andrew Milnes.
01:20:06We've got the pathologist giving evidence followed by himself.
01:20:13Dr. Adley will have to come to a conclusion about how and why Andrew died,
01:20:18and explain it to his friends and family in attendance.
01:20:25Quite nervous.
01:20:27I don't know what they're going to say, but I feel like it's going to be kind of a bit
01:20:31of closure as well for him.
01:20:33This is the last bit to find out what actually happened to him.
01:20:38Andrew's mum will also be attending the inquest.
01:20:42I'm Alice Swarbrick, coroner's officer.
01:20:44I've spoken to you on the phone, haven't I, Dilys?
01:20:46Are you okay? Yes.
01:20:47How are you feeling about today?
01:20:50So-so? Yeah.
01:20:51Yeah.
01:20:52Aren't they actually said when he died?
01:20:55We will never be able to say exactly when he's died, because it all depends on the circumstances of how
01:21:02somebody's been found.
01:21:03So it's the environment, so it is all about the temperature, whether they had any underlying conditions.
01:21:09So we could never pinpoint or go back, work backwards and give you that date.
01:21:13It will be the date and time that has been verified by a medical practitioner.
01:21:19Anything else?
01:21:20No.
01:21:20Are you sure? Yeah.
01:21:21Shall I take you up to court then?
01:21:23Yeah.
01:21:54Good morning.
01:21:55I'm very sorry that you're coming to court under these circumstances and my deepest condolences on Andrew's death.
01:22:01So the autopsy identified a bodily fluid within the airways, with both of the lungs showing the typical changes that
01:22:10we see in drowning,
01:22:11which means they're enlarged.
01:22:13And when they're removed from the body, they retain their shapes.
01:22:17So therefore, drowning was the immediate cause of this man's death.
01:22:22However, in this case, there was a grossly abnormal shape of part of the heart and the condition is called
01:22:28cardiomyopathy.
01:22:31The abnormality of his heart has caused the muscle to contract in a manner that doesn't pump any blood, so
01:22:37you lose consciousness.
01:22:39And he's collapsed into the bath, so that he's unconscious of the time that the bath fills up.
01:22:44Yes, unconscious, but not deceased, because there are clear signs of drowning.
01:22:50So what I propose to record is that Andrew Osborne Milnes drowned in his bath following an arrhythmia caused by
01:22:58a cardiomyopathy.
01:23:00This gives you the sequence of events and the two halves of what has gone on, the natural event and
01:23:06the unnatural event.
01:23:20No case is ever straightforward because it involves people, but with this, it's an unusual case because the condition that
01:23:29he suffers from is really quite rare.
01:23:31So in terms of what he's getting, he is getting his heart muscle being replaced by fatty tissue affecting the
01:23:40right side of his heart.
01:23:42This gentleman was just very, very unlucky that he was stood over the bath when the arrhythmia struck.
01:24:02It's really upset to find it out exactly how it happened and, you know, you're imagining me in there on
01:24:08his open stuff, so once it's over, I can, you know, it's kind of closure now for him.
01:24:14And closure for us as well, where we can, well, grieve for him now as well.
01:24:39At Royal Preston Hospital, the surgical team are on standby as Margaret Chalmley's life support is withdrawn.
01:24:46In preparation for organ donation following the coroner's consent.
01:24:51It's a very crucial time now.
01:24:53Everybody is waiting and every minute counts.
01:24:55Adrenaline level is really high at the moment.
01:25:03Raciously, get ready.
01:25:11Margaret has died within six minutes of her life support being turned off.
01:25:21The team must work as fast as possible to retrieve her organs.
01:25:25Every minute is crucial.
01:25:27Straighten the bed, please.
01:25:33Knife, please.
01:25:34Hiya, are you okay?
01:25:35So, it was, it was really, really quick.
01:25:38So, uh, certification was 21.51 and then now to scheme was 21.53.
01:25:50You're all okay?
01:26:00Liver out.
01:26:03Yes.
01:26:04So, the liver's out.
01:26:05Yes.
01:26:06At 10 past 10.
01:26:08One, four, eight, eight grams.
01:26:10Eight, eight.
01:26:16Right kidney out.
01:26:18Right kidney out.
01:26:1922.13, yes.
01:26:27That kidney out.
01:26:3022.13, yes.
01:26:32So we packed them in three bags so the outer bag can be non-sterile whereas the inner two
01:26:38bags remain sterile for the team to open when they are implanting the organs.
01:26:51At the moment we think we are going to improve the quality of at least three more human beings
01:26:54and that was a very generous gift from her that she had agreed and her family had agreed
01:26:59through that process.
01:27:01Have we got a driver for the liver on site?
01:27:05Alright, love it, cheers.
01:27:08Thanks a lot, bye, bye-bye.
01:27:37Happy to close.
01:27:42So this is now the liver.
01:27:44This is going on ice in a box so I need to physically hand the liver over to a driver.
01:27:56Right, we've got a liver.
01:27:58Yep.
01:27:59Round.
01:28:09At the end of it you're wanting a good outcome for these potential recipients and families
01:28:15do take a lot of great comfort knowing that their loved one, as part of their end of life
01:28:20care, they're helping other people, you know, to live a life elsewhere.
01:28:25Unless you have a car and you are staying with me
01:28:28can lose time wine in, you know, to be easily stolen and by your life $100 million.
01:28:48I've just let you know, you know, that's a very good centre of everything.
01:29:01It does appear to be very distressed, almost as if he's trying to fight somebody off.
01:29:06It's a 15-foot drop and he's got no injury.
01:29:08No injuries.
01:29:10It makes no sense.
01:29:11It's like you're telling me something about somebody else.
01:29:14This was so overwhelming and so quick.
01:29:16It didn't seem to be just coronavirus.
01:29:19Were these all purchased over the internet?
01:29:21I believe so, yes.
01:29:22In that case, definitely, I'd like the drug's seizing, please.
01:29:26Gosh, he's got waves, hasn't he?
01:29:55I believe so, yes.
01:29:56I believe so.
01:29:57I believe so, yes.
01:29:57I believe so, yes.