Weightlifter killed when 60kg metal bar fell on his neck and suffocated him during home workout

A WEIGHTLIFTER was killed after a heavy metal bar fell on his neck and suffocated him during a home workout.

Veteran lifter Carl Hughes, 61, was found trapped under the 60kg bar after pumping iron in his bedroom.

Carl was training alone with the bar with the 9st 6lb weight when he was trapped in the freak slip.

He was found by neighbour Gill Embleton after she went to check on him in the seaside town.

The neighbour became alarmed when he did not collect his morning paper from the apartment complex.

And she tragically discovered him dead under the weight on his bench.

An inquest opening heard Carl was lying on the weights bench in his bedroom with the barbell on his neck when he was found on September 9.

Pathologist Dr Zain Mehdi gave a provisional cause of death as asphyxia secondary to compression of the neck by a bar.

Samples have been sent for toxicology tests to check on any substances in his body.

John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, adjourned the hearing in Ruthin, to a date to be fixed.

Neighbour at Carl's block of flats in Rhos-on-Sea, North Wales, were shocked at hearing of his death.

Albert Kirk said: "I had been away on holiday when it happened. I heard he was found at home.

"I only knew him to say hello to when I would see him going out of his flat or coming back in. He kept himself to himself."

Another woman said: "It's awful to hear. I didn't know him but it is a terrible way to go."