Rajkiran Barhey, instructed by Becky Randel of RWK Goodman, recently represented the family at the inquest into the death of Henry Best, a ‘fit and healthy’ 21-year-old who collapsed and died in a PureGym in Bristol in January 2022.

Henry had visited the gym with his girlfriend at around 10.30pm and collapsed due to a pre-existing but undiagnosed heart condition at around 11.30pm. He received ‘effective CPR’ from his girlfriend until paramedics arrived, but was pronounced dead shortly after.

At the inquest, the family wanted to explore issues around staffing of the gym in the evenings, as it had emerged that a first-aid trained cleaner was present in the gym but he was not found by any other gym users. There was also a defibrillator in the gym but it was not used. The paramedics were also initially unable to enter the gym as the doors were locked.

The coroner concluded that Henry died of natural causes and did not issue a prevention of future deaths report, noting that “I accept there may be some confusion on the part of gym users as to whether it was staffed or unstaffed”  but he concluded that the fact that the cleaner was not found did not cause or contribute to Henry’s death.

The inquest was featured in the news: