Boy had been warned before tragedy

May 16 2007 By Steve Johnson, Birmingham Mail

A BOY strangled by a duvet cover hung from a banister had been repeatedly warned of the danger, an inquest heard.

Peter Handsaker, aged nine, and his brothers Daniel, 11, and Adam, seven, had been caught playing the game of "tents" a number of times before tragedy truck at the family home in Dairy Close, Tipton, on January 29.

Their mother, Sarah Handasker, told the boys off each time and warned them not to play the game. But while she was working on a computer upstairs the two youngest boys climbed inside the duvet cover again, the inquest at West Bromwich was told yesterday.

Adam Handsaker told police that Peter tied the cover to the banister and climbed inside, and Adam followed, going underneath his older brother.

Adam said he could feel his brother's legs moving, but after a time he found he was unable to get Peter to move off him. He went to fetch his mother and Daniel.

Det Sgt Elizabeth Richardson, of West Bromwich police, told the hearing that police and emergency services were called to the house after reports that Peter had been found hanging.

She said that Mrs Handsaker said in a statement that her boys had been in the habit of using the double duvet cover to play a game of "tents", but she had told them off a number of times.

Mrs Handsaker told police she was upstairs, leaving the children playing downstairs, and they had tied the duvet cover to a post on the banister.

She said that Adam had become stuck inside the cover, unable to get Peter to move off him.

When the alarm was raised she could see the top of Peter's head, close to a knot which had been made in the duvet cover.

Adam was in the bottom of the cover and she asked Daniel to fetch scissors, which she used to cut down the makeshift swing.

Mrs Handsaker dialled 999 and attempts were made to resuscitate her son, but he was pronounced dead in hospital a couple of hours later.

Black Country Coroner Robin Balmain said that the cause of death was found to be asphyxia due to strangulation.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Balmain said he was not calling Mrs Handsaker to give evidence to spare her further trauma.

He said it was difficult to imagine any circumstances more devastating to a family.

"The two boys were playing like you would expect boys to play - they were not toddlers. This was a children's game which ended in a tragic way."