Ryan Vincent: Guard had no concerns about restraint - inquest

A security guard who restrained a holidaymaker at a North Yorkshire caravan park "had no indication there was anything wrong", an inquest heard.

Ryan Vincent, 22, from Skelton, died after he was pinned to the floor at Primrose Valley, Filey, on 22 May 2017.

Tony Walpole told Northallerton Coroner's Court he assumed Mr Vincent was OK as he did not think sitting on him would cause injury.

Witnesses previously told the hearing he had said he could not breathe.

Mr Vincent had travelled to the holiday park with his partner, Chloe Edwards, and had been returning to his caravan after a night out when he was stopped by Mr Walpole.

Mr Walpole, who was 55 at the time, said he and a colleague had been pursuing a speeding car through the park on the night of the incident in their security van.

The hearing heard he had then followed a man he believed to be the driver alone on foot and made two attempts to tackle him to the ground.

Mr Walpole said he had wanted "to hold onto him until the police could come" so officers could carry out a breathalyser test on him.

The inquest had previously heard eyewitness suggest Mr Vincent had been held face down for up to 20 minutes.

On Wednesday, however, coroner Jonathan Leach suggested to Mr Walpole it had been 15 minutes, to which he replied: "I had no concept of time, at the time."

He later added: "I didn't think I was hurting him just by sitting on him like that."

When asked what he would have done if he had realised Mr Vincent was unconscious, he replied: "I would have got off him straight away if I knew there was something wrong, but I had no indication there was anything wrong.

"I can only imagine what his family have gone through, my heart goes out to them."

He added: "I should have been trained properly."

The inquest heard Mr Walpole held a Security Industry Authority licence at the time, with the majority of his role involving maintenance work and general park duties.

He said security staff routinely called the police to incidents if there was any risk of harm.

Peter Conway, security manager at the time of the incident, told the inquest he found Mr Walpole on top of Mr Vincent "from head to toe" and told his colleague to get up.

"Tony got up and just sat on top of him," he told the hearing.

Mr Conway told the inquest he rested his hands on Mr Vincent's hand and shoulder in case he tried to jump up and said he believed the police arrived a few minutes later.

The inquest continues.

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