Accidental death verdict

Natalie Savage, 25, of Newcastle Avenue, died after she became trapped between the door of her Rover 214 and the concrete fence on the morning of Tuesday 15th November 2011.

Nottingham Coroners Court heard on Tuesday that Natalie had been trying to move the car closer to her house to connect it to the battery charger.

Ian Watson, Natalie’s partner of 10 years, told the court the car had to be repeatedly charged after the battery became faulty.

“I was going to take Natalie’s sister Jodie to Sheffield that afternoon for a hospital appointment and knew the car had to be charged,” he said.

“I got dressed and left our daughter Sienna watching cartoons and shouted for Natalie, but she never answered.”

“I thought she had gone into town but then I saw her trapped between the car door and the fence, and instantly knew something was wrong.”

The court heard how Natalie had previously seen her partner move the car closer to the property to charge the battery.

Said Mr Watson: “It’s quite difficult to jump into the car once it had started rolling.”

Assistant deputy coroner Jane Gillespie said post-mortem test results showed Natalie had died of asphyxiation.

Miss Gillespie returned a verdict of accidental death and ruled out the possibility Natalie had been trying to bumpstart the car.

“There had been long-standing problems with the family car which needed to be charged, and Natalie knew it would be needed to take Jodie to hospital that day,” she said.

“As Mr Watson has said, she was a very helpful person who would do anything for anybody.”

“This was completely unforseeable - if you can’t predict something you can’t prevent it, and this was entirely preventable. I offer my deepest condolences to the family.”