4 February 2013  A DAD choked to death on chewing gum.
Michael Leslie Jones, 59, collapsed outside his home in what a coroner said was “an awful, tragic accident that could have happened to anyone”.
Mr Jones, a member of Mold Pigeon Flyers, had been with friends at the Dolphin Pub in Mold on July 22. He was found lying in the road on the way home.
A postmortem found a 2cm length of chewing gum obstructing the trachea.
“He had a drink but he wasn’t drunk,” said Nicola Jones, deputy coroner for Wales North East and North Central.
“He was steady on his feet and he hadn’t complained of feeling unwell,” she explained.
But tragedy struck when Mr Jones, a darts and dominoes player, fell and could not be revived.
An ambulance was called and neighbours rallied to save him by performing CPR. Paramedics shocked him three times before he arrived at Wrexham Maelor Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Alcohol in his blood was said to have been a moderate amount of 154mg per litre.
“So your father probably had less than four pints, not a great deal of alcohol,” Ms Jones told his children at his inquest in Mold on Monday.
Recording a verdict of misadventure, Ms Jones said: “It’s a very unusual case and if this serves to prevent it happening again, hopefully, people will be more aware of the dangers of chewing gum, especially for children.”
Mr Jones’ 19-year-old daughter Trisha Jones said: “We’ve been thinking for the last six months that he’s had a heart attack. It’s such a shock.”
Following the inquest, she described her father as loving and caring.
“He would always put people before himself,” she added.
“He was always fun and would make jokes out of everything.”
Mr Jones played dominoes and darts at the Cross Keys in Sychdyn.
Son John Jones, 20, said: “He was a good man. He was always there for us.”
Next door neighbours Ellen Mulhearm, told of how she tried to save her neighbour as he lay in the street: “My boyfriend phoned me. “He said ‘Les is outside on the floor’.
“I checked for his pulse but there was nothing.”