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Michael Hawes

Age: 50

Sex: male

Date: 23 Feb 2016

Place: Leedstown, Cornwall

Michael Hawes died suddenly outside his neighbour’s house after a row.

An open verdict was returned after the coroner said that the nature of his death was suspicious. It was concluded that he had died from a combination of neck compression, being restrained on the ground in a position that effected his breathing and the fact that he had been drinking.

It was said that Michael Hawes had been tackled to the ground after he had gone at his neighbour with a hammer. He was a former doorman.

Michael Hawes was found dead when the police arrived at the address in Leedstown near Hayle on 23 February 2016.

Michael Hawes had previously smashed windows at his neighbour’s home, but no police action was taken.

The inquest into Michael Hawes's death heard that his neighbours had opened their door on the night of 23 February 2016 to find Michael Hawes coming at them with a hammer. It was said that there was then a tussle and that Michael Hawes was wrestled to the ground nf the hammer taken away from him until the police arrived.

However, when they did, Michael Hawes was dead.

The neighbour said, 'It was in the early hours when I heard the doorbell and mum crying. I went through the hall into the porch and saw an intruder in the drive, I knew it to be Micky. I told mum to phone the police and opened the door and he started saying, 'I’m going to f**king have you now’. I told him to go away, but he came at me with his hands behind his back and then I saw he had a hammer. I was in the porch and he was trying to hit me. It all happened so fast, I was petrified, I didn’t know if he had a knife or a needle on him as well. I grabbed hold, got him on the floor and all the time he was threatening me. I had his hands behind his back and managed to take the hammer away. It happened quite quickly. He was threatening me on the floor and then went quiet before he started threatening me again'.

The man went on to say that he suffered some bruises to his hands caused by Michael Hawes hitting him with the hammer.

Following the incident, the man and his father were arrested, but they were later released.

When the man was questioned about known issues, he said that he had not been living with his parents when the windows were broken.

It was heard that when the coroner asked the man whether he had at any time gone over to Michael Hawes's house whilst drunk, the man replied, 'no comment'. He also replied 'no comment' to other questions from Michael Hawes's friends when asked about claims that Michael Hawes had been scared of him and had thought that he was scared that he would do him some harm.

The man's father said that he had made no upsetting comments to Michael Hawes and added that he considered the issue with the broken windows to be gone and noted that he knew that Michael Hawes had even recently spoken to his wife in the village in the days leading up to his death.

When the father denied that he knew of the struggle that his son was having with Michael Hawes until he saw him on the floor outside the house, the coroner said that he doubted his account.

The pathologist said that Michael Hawes had been manhandled to the ground and restrained after striking out at his neighbours at their door and had at some point become unresponsive. She noted that when the paramedics arrived that they had been unable to resuscitate him. She noted that Michael Hawes was a large man and that the evidence suggested that he had been held face down on the floor with an arm behind his back and that lying down in such a position could compromise breathing in larger individuals.  She added that it was found that Michael Hawes had been under the influence of alcohol at the time and that it was possible that the alcohol concentration in his blood might have played a part, along with other complicating factors, in his death.

She said that she found bruising and grazing on Michael Hawes's body which could have been caused by him being grappled. She noted that Michael Hawes also had a mark across his neck which matched the collar of a rugby top indicating that his top had at some point been pulled from behind, presumably during the effort to restrain him. She said that Michael Hawes also had fractures to his voice box which indicated a clear sign of some form of compression of the neck. She then said, 'The neck compression was a significant factor in Mr Hawes’ death and the fact he was in a face down position also played a role in leading to a cardiovascular arrest. There was clearly sufficient force applied to the neck to cause the voice box fractures and the death could have been an inadvertent result of attempts to restrain him'.

She concluded in saying that his cause of death was a combination of the effects of compression of the neck, the fact that he was a large male lying in a dangerous face down position and alcohol.

The neighbour’s son denied that he had pulled Michael Hawes's top and suggested that the mark on his neck might have been caused when he fell on a raised part of the door frame.

When the coroner summed up she said that whilst Michael Hawes's death was suspicious, that she could return no other verdict than an open verdict.

It was heard that Michael Hawes had struggled with a drink problem and that he also suffered from anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after he was previously struck by a moving car. It was lo noted that he had spent some time living on the streets and that he had previously attempted suicide and had been in contact with mental health services over it.

Michael Hawes was known as Mental Micky and had two children.


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