Superfit energy drinks MD, 56, found dead in his home-gym

Steven Baker was the managing director of Wild Cat energy drinks (pictured) 

A ‘superfit’ energy drinks managing director died in a freak accident when he got trapped under a 100kg weight lifting machine in his home, an inquest heard.

Steven Baker, 56, was found by his friends lying dead in his gym with the 15-and-a-half stone bench press crushing his throat.

An inquest heard Mr Baker, from Leicester, suffered a fatal heart attack which could have been triggered by the pressure on his neck.

The managing director of Wild Cat energy drinks was found dead in the garage of his £300,000 detached home on October 25 last year.

Leicester Coroner’s Court heard the safety catches on the bench press had been set to the bottom level, meaning Mr Baker needed to support the entire stack.

His friend and training partner Abdullah Bodhaniya, 48, told the inquest how he found Mr Baker’s body.

He told the inquest: ‘I went a couple of times to the gym with him before – he is superfit.

‘I know he had gym equipment at home in his garage – a pull-up bar and the weight lifting machine. 

‘His partner, Nicola, rang me up saying, ‘is Steve with me?’ I said he wasn’t with me, that was about lunchtime.

‘She was concerned that he was missing. I went round to his house, when I arrived DC (friend Dipak Chauhan) arrived at the same time.

‘She (Nicola) said she couldn’t find his dressing gown, his car was outside in front of the doors (of the garage) – there was no sign of Steve.

‘We looked round the house and she saw the garage doors were closed – it was locked.

‘We had to go in the garden to the shed to get tools out and managed to get in.

‘I went in first, because it was dark I told DC to switch on the light. On the machine I spotted his feet – I looked down, the bar was on his neck.

‘The bench was right to the floor and the bar was slanted because one of his hands were trying to push it up.

‘It was resting on his arm, the left hand was supporting the bar. The headrest was on the floor.

‘I had to climb over it and tell DC to help me put the bar back into the rack above where he was lying. It left a dent in his neck.

Leicester Coroner's Court (pictured) heard the safety catches on the bench press had been set to the bottom level, meaning Mr Baker needed to support the entire stack

Leicester Coroner’s Court (pictured) heard the safety catches on the bench press had been set to the bottom level, meaning Mr Baker needed to support the entire stack

‘He was wearing his grey dressing gown, a t-shirt and pants and that was all, nothing on his feet. 

‘The safety catches were right to the bottom and the bench was on the floor.’

The coroner was shown the weight-lifting machine which was used by Mr Baker.

PC Ian Bradbury, a trainer in officer safety at Leicestershire Police and qualified personal trainer, said: ‘It would be a good quality home gym use, it can be used for a multitude of exercises.

‘The bar doesn’t unhinge – it has various safety aspects to it.

‘If the safety features are not in place the bar will go all the way down to where the catches were on the floor if the bench wasn’t there.

‘If I was confident and comfortable I wouldn’t always use the actual safety mechanism because I am confident in my own ability. They are not always utilised.

‘It was four different sizes of weight – a 20kg, 15kg, 10kg and 5kg on each so a total of 100kg plus whatever the bar weighs.

‘An average mark for guys would be around 65 to 70kg – 100kg is a big weight but not unobtainable.

It was four different sizes of weight – a 20kg, 15kg, 10kg and 5kg on each so a total of 100kg plus whatever the bar weighs

‘The machine is perfectly serviceable and safe.’

Recording an open conclusion, assistant coroner for Leicester Lydia Brown, said: ‘We are dealing here with a fit and well man undergoing his normal routine on October 25, 2016.

‘He was last seen alive at 6.30am that morning, nothing apparent to be amiss. He was then found deceased.

‘He was in his own locked garage with the light off – his neck had been compressed with the weight bar on the machine.

‘He was found to have some compression to his heart at post-mortem – left ventricular hypertrophy.

‘It was the start of the chain of events that led to death or initiated when his neck was compressed by the bar.

‘The medical cause of death was that the actual neck compression was the factor that took his life – also contributed to that was the condition of the heart as found at post-mortem.

‘It remains the rather classic chicken and the egg dilemma, which came first? Was it just an accident, a terrible life-stealing accident?’ 

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