Grape-choke Jacob Jenkins' death was 'tragic accident'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-35586616

Version 0 of 1.

Paramedics, customers and the parents of a two-year-old boy tried to save him after he choked on a grape in a Pizza Hut, an inquest has heard.

Jacob Jenkins was snacking on fruit at the Hartlepool restaurant when the grape got stuck, and attempts were made to dislodge it.

He later died at the Great North Children's Hospital in Newcastle, in October.

Newcastle Coroner Karen Dilks concluded that his death was accidental.

'Tragic accident'

She said: "Jacob, who was two years old went with his family on what was intended to be a social occasion. Tragically, a completely unexpected and unintended event occurred.

"That was that Jacob, eating grapes that no-one considered any risk, then choked on one of those grapes and that led to a chain of events that tragically starved Jacob's brain of oxygen and that was the reason why he died.

"I can reach no other conclusion that this was in every sense a tragic accident. My conclusion therefore is one of accidental death."

She said the tragedy served as a warning about the "unexpected risks" of small children eating grapes.