Dad of three died in freak accident after wife locked him in steel shed to stop him drinking

Jonathan with wife Kim and daughter Charity (Wales News Service)
Jonathan with wife Kim and daughter Charity (Wales News Service)

A husband died in a tragic accident 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 shopping.

An inquest heard dad-of-three Jonathan - who appeared on BBC's Countryfile with presenter John Craven - was an alcoholic in danger of relapsing.

The hearing was told Kim shut him in the shed for his own protection.

While he was inside, Jonathan started a motorbike 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 poisoning.

Police investigated 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.

Jonathan Daunter (Wales News Service)
Jonathan Daunter (Wales News Service)

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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Detective Inspector Nicola Williams, of Gwent Police, told the hearing: “I went to the scene in order to understand the circumstances.

“There was nothing that could tell me that he had been forced there or coerced there.”

Gwent coroner Caroline Saunders said: “There is no evidence before me that would suggest that any force was used to put him in there.

“At some point Mr Daunter started the motorbike. The reason for this is unknown.

“He died as a result of being in an enclosed area with a running vehicle."

She said the medical cause of death was given as asphyxiation caused by carbon monoxide toxicity from by fume inhalation.

The coroner at the Newport inquest ruled that he did not intend to take his own life and died from the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.

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