Huthwaite dad died after sniffing gas, inquest told

Passers-by found dad-of-two Daniel Law (36), of Woodland Avenue, slumped over in a Transit van parked up in Teversal on 31st August last year.

At an inquest into his death at Nottingham Coroner’s Court, Carl Sowden said that his friend saw the van on his way to pick him up for work and they went back to have a look because it was playing on his mind.

“We got out, approached the white van and we could see the man was slumped over to the left-hand side onto the passenger seat,” he said.

The two men called the emergency services but Daniel was already dead.

Daniel’s dog was also in the van and was distressed.

PC Kara Cullen, the officer in charge of the investigation, said that Daniel’s last contact with anybody was text messages to his former partner Victoria Bishop on the night before he was found dead.

Police found no signs of suspicious circumstances, but did find gas canisters in his van.

A post mortem on Daniel’s body gave the cause of his death as butane, isobutane and propane poisoning.

The presence of these gases was consistent with recent inhalation from a source such as aerosol or lighter fluid cans.

Daniel’s mum Jacqueline Law told the inquest that Daniel had never shown any signs of depression. She said he would not have taken his own life and though he had been known to ‘dabble’ in cannabis, he had told her he had stopped all that.

“In my opinion, Daniel made a silly mistake and paid the ultimate price in his life,” she said, adding that she hoped lives could be saved when people heard what had happened.

Victoria Bishop, who has a daughter with Daniel, also told the inquest that he ‘would never have taken his own life’.

Nottinghamshire coroner Mairin Casey gave a verdict of accidental death, stating that ‘there was no evidence that he intended the very tragic circumstances’ of his actions.