A FORMER Huddersfield Town player died after choking at a family meal to celebrate his 65th birthday.
Raymond Jones was enjoying a meal at the Memsahib in the town centre when he began to choke on his starter.
Mr Jones, of Dalton, was rushed to hospital but died two days later of a brain injury caused by asphyxiation after choking.
At an inquest into his death at Huddersfield Coroner’s Court yesterday, a statement by his daughter Gill Mawson was read by Deputy Coroner Paul Marks.
Mrs Mawson said that her father, born at Barnard Castle, County Durham, moved to Huddersfield aged 17 when he signed for Town.
He left the club several years later and became a postman.
She said that for his 65th birthday the family threw a surprise party and he wanted to thank them so took his family out for a belated birthday meal.
On December 6, 2009, the family went to the Memsahib on Queensgate, where Mr Jones and his son-in-law both ordered a Sizzler starter.
Mrs Mawson’s statement said: “He began hitting his chest and said he’d got something stuck.
“I asked if he was ok and he continued patting his chest.”
A fellow customer helped give first aid as an ambulance was called and Mr Jones was rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and later transferred to Calderdale Royal Hospital – where there was an intensive care bed available.
He was kept heavily sedated but his condition deteriorated and he sadly died on December 8, 2009.
The cause of death was given as a brain injury, due to asphyxiation after choking.
Mr Jones was well-known on the local football scene, training at the ICI club at Leeds Road.
Deputy Coroner Paul Marks, summing up, described Mr Jones as a “fit and healthy man”, adding: “He inhaled a piece of food which obstructed his airways, had a cardiac arrest and deteriorated and sadly died.”
He recorded a verdict of accidental death.
