Inquest told of Wearside grandfather's final moments as he was restrained by bouncers after a fight in nightclub

An inquest has heard of the final moments of a grandfather's life after he died as he was restrained by bouncers after a fight on a night out.
The Loveshack nightclub in Durham City.The Loveshack nightclub in Durham City.
The Loveshack nightclub in Durham City.

Tiler Stewart Anderson, 54, of Hetton, died in the early hours of Sunday, July 24, 2016, after disorder broke out in the Loveshack nightclub in Walkergate, Durham city.

An inquest into his death in Crook has been told he died due to a mix of drugs, alcohol, heart disease and the stress of being restrained.

Stewart Anderson pictured holding granddaughter Neve Allcroft, and daughters Kelly Beston, left and Kay Allcroft.Stewart Anderson pictured holding granddaughter Neve Allcroft, and daughters Kelly Beston, left and Kay Allcroft.
Stewart Anderson pictured holding granddaughter Neve Allcroft, and daughters Kelly Beston, left and Kay Allcroft.
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Mr Anderson was dad to Kay Allcroft and Kelly Beston, with his daughters attending the hearing into his final moments of life.

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Assistant senior coroner Crispin Oliver was told by doorman Adrian Hedley, who was working at the nearby Champagne bar, that he and other security officers answered a shout for help after staff said two men had been violent within the club.

The pair, including Mr Anderson, were brought out into an outside area of the complex known by police as The Well, with the bars filled with thousands of people and music causing a great deal of noise.

Mr Hedley, who has 18 years of experience in the role, said from the balcony he saw two men fighting and bouncers trying to get them to the floor.

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He said in his opinion, reasonable force was being used by the three doormen as they struggled to restrain them as they waited for police, with Mr Anderson face down when he was handcuffed.

"I could see there were bodies on top of him, that's all I could see," he said.

"When he was handcuffed and rolled over, he looked dead.

"He had his mouth open, his eyes open. I've never seen a dead body before, but that's what it looked like to me."

Mr Hedley said it "seemed like a long time" when asked what period Mr Anderson had been restrained over, although could not say what period of minutes that covered.

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He said the longest he had seen someone held down was around 20 minutes and had not thought there was anything appeared wrong with the situation as he watched.

He also recalled one of the staff had said there was an attempt to bite him during the fight.

Pc Dawn Lee and Pc Amy Nicholson answered the call for help from the CCTV control room after the fight was reported.

Both described a noisy and busy scene where they had to raise their voices to be heard.

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Pc Lee said she had seen a "sea of black coats" belonging to door staff at the scene and was helped by the bouncers to put a set of cuffs on Mr Anderson.

When they lifted him up to get him on his feet she said her "instinct was Mr Anderson was dead," and described him as looking blue, with the episode lasting just seconds.

CPR began after she had called for an ambulance.

She told the hearing: "There were two violent males that were being pinned down and I have to gain control of that situation.

"I've been risk assessing like that for 20 years, I deal with 999 calls on a day to day basis.

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"The one way I can technically take control is to place handcuffs on them.

"When I realised what had happened, we commenced CPR, but the first thing was to radio immediately."

Pc Nicholson said she was told when they arrived by door staff that two "professional fighters" were involved in the "violent assault", with the number of people involved in the restraint of the pair showing her the level of disorder, with one bouncer left with a bust lip.

She said she saw eight door staff involved in the struggle, with the officers looking at how to safely get the paid in custody.

Pc Nicholson said she recalled telling someone to get off the other man, but did not remember anyone saying the same of Mr Anderson.

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