Undertaker found crushed to death by scissor lift used to move bodies from fridge

A grandmother was found crushed to death in her funeral parlour, an inquest has heard.

Undertaker Sally Blundell, 58, was found underneath a scissor lift used to move bodies from a fridge in the morgue she worked at in Swaffham, Norfolk on December 1 2023.

Ms Blundell had been working alone at the East of England Co-op Funeral Services branch when the equipment fell on her.

She was found by a colleague after concerns were raised by a grieving family who had an appointment at the funeral parlour but found it empty.

Stephen Kemp, who works in the Dereham branch, described the moment he rang emergency services.

Police officer Luke Heffer said he went through the chapel of rest to a back room at the funeral parlour.

He said there was a large fridge in the room and a ‘scissor lift’ that was ‘used to lift caskets in and out of the fridge’.

He said that Mrs Blundell was ‘found trapped in the scissor lift’, lying across a bar and with the upper part of her body inside the frame.

Norfolk area coroner Yvonne Blake said Mrs Blundell’s medical cause of death was recorded as ‘contusion and compression of the chest by an external object’.

Dawn Salisbury, who had made arrangements to see a deceased relative, became concerned when there were no staff at the funeral parlour for her 11am appointment.

In a statement read to the Norwich inquest, she said that ‘after about 10 minutes I decided to ring the landline number for that branch’.

When she could not hear a phone ringing within the branch, she tried calling the celebrant she had been dealing with and a message was passed to another branch.

Mr Kemp, a funeral manager at the Dereham branch of East of England Co-op Funeral Services, said he asked security to remotely check CCTV cameras at the Swaffham branch.

He said they could see two ladies sat in the reception area, who had attended the 11am appointment, and Mrs Blundell’s car in the car park, but no sign of her.

The inquest heard there are no CCTV cameras in sensitive areas of the funeral parlour where bodies are kept.

Mr Kemp went to the Swaffham branch and discovered Mrs Blundell was dead.

In a statement, he said that a ‘hydraulic hoist had come down on her body and was crushing her over the chest area’.

He said it was ‘apparent to me she was already dead’.

Mrs Blundell’s daughter, Lucy Blundell, said in a statement: ‘I understand she had raised concerns about lone working.’

She said that her mother, of Great Cressingham, was ‘respected by her colleagues’ and had a ‘wide network of friends’.

The coroner said Mrs Blundell was last seen on CCTV in the branch at 9.46am on December 1, walking away after taking a call on her work mobile phone.

Mr Kemp is seen to arrive at the branch just after midday, when he found Mrs Blundell.

The inquest, being heard with a jury, continues.