Flint brothers die choking on meat five months apart

A man choked to death on a piece of meat about five months after his brother died in exactly the same way.

An inquest has been opened into the death of Selwyn Francis, 68, who choked on food at a restaurant in Flintshire and died in hospital two days later.

He died a day after an inquest heard his brother Gwyn Francis had died after choking on a piece of steak at a pub.

Their brother Kenneth Francis had said he and his two brothers ate quickly without chewing their food properly.

At a hearing in Ruthin on Monday, assistant coroner Elizabeth Dudley-Jones heard Selwyn Francis had choked on food at a restaurant in the Flint area on 2 July.

He was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital but died on 4 July.

His brother Gwyn Francis, 62, of Flint, was taken to hospital on 29 January after choking on his meal at the Mill Tavern in the town, but died on 6 February.

Kenneth Francis told the inquest into Gwyn's death that Selwyn had choked on a piece of steak at the same pub 18 months earlier but the obstruction had been cleared by someone performing the Heimlich manoeuvre.

"I said it should be a warning to us all," Kenneth Francis had told the earlier inquest.

Ms Dudley-Jones said the provisional cause of Selwyn Francis' death was hypoxic brain injury following a cardiac arrest.

The inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed.