Derbyshire man died of 'severe blood loss' in accident in his kitchen

Simon Parker, from Matlock, was found dead after police forced entry into his Bank Road flat in March.

A documentary inquest at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court yesterday (Wednesday, July 22) heard that neighbours had noticed Mr Parker ‘shouting and banging’ the night before, but didn’t check on him.

Mr Parker, who was born in London, suffered from mental health problems such as paranoid depression and was under the care of a mental health support team.

When the 55-year-old didn’t respond to a call from a team member on March 11, they became concerned and went to Mr Parker’s home where they looked through the keyhole and saw ‘blood coming from under the kitchen door’.

Police later forced entry into the flat and found Mr Parker lying on the floor with a severe leg injury that had been bleeding heavily.

There was also blood on the kitchen cupboards and worktops, but ‘no sharp objects’ were found at the scene.

A post-mortem report found that Mr Parker had suffered a fracture dislocation of his left ankle, an injury that could only be sustained in a ‘fall from a height’.

He had a history of self-harm and had been detained at the Hartington Unit in December 2019.

During his stay police informed hospital staff that Mr Parker’s home had been set on fire- but with no witnesses and insufficient evidence the case was dropped.

Assistant coroner for Derbyshire Emma Serrano said she did not believe Mr Parker had taken his own life, as he was seen by a mental health nurse a week before his death and expressed that he was ‘not feeling suicidal’.

Ms Serrano also believed the noises heard the night Mr Parker died suggested he was calling for help.

"While I cannot say precisely what happened, I don’t think this was intended,” said Ms Serrano.

She recorded the death as an ‘accident’, with the medical causes of death given as severe blood loss and fracture dislocation of the left ankle due to a fall.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor