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An inquest yesterday heard of the last moments of the life of Paul Sharp who died in a silo accident in Calne two years ago.

The 31-year-old died after losing consciousness inside a silo at Southern Valley Feeds on the Porte Marsh industrial estate in August 2006.

He was on a routine job to clean the silo, which held vegetable fat, on Thursday, August 10. He was working for Lincolnshire based firm Silocare, a specalist contractor.

It is thought Mr Sharp could have been asphyxiated, causing his heart to stop.

Speaking at the inquest held at Trowbridge Town Hall in front of a jury, colleague Darren Millar, who was working with Mr Sharp, detailed the moments which led up to his death.

The inquest heard Mr Sharp was not wearing any breathing apparatus, which were not nessesarily needed, as the silo had enough oxygen to be safely cleaned from the inside.

Mr Millar said Mr Sharp went down into the silo to clean with a high pressured water gun and he and team leader Roy Harkness were talking to him.

Mr Sharp reached the bottom of the silo when the two heard a thud, which they took to be Mr Sharp dropping the pressure washer as he started to make his way back up.

Mr Millar said: "I shouted to him, 'are you coming up?' and he said 'in a minute' and it was the last thing he said.

"I shouted a few times but there was no answer. I shouted for about four or five minutes and got no answer. I pulled his ropes and thought he was messing around but we realised something was wrong.

"We pulled him to the top and he was unconscious, he had his arms and legs at the side of his body and his eyes were open."

Paramedics were called and treated Mr Sharp at the top of the silo before fire fighters helped bring him down with a ladder on a turn table. He was flown by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance to the Great Western Hospital, Swindon, but was pronounced dead.

Today a jury will hear from Great Western Hospital pathologist Janette Armstrong and should hear from Mr Harkness, as well as Brian Wardley a tanker driver who drained the silo before cleaning and was at the scene during Mr Sharp's accident.

The inquest continues.

8:09am Tuesday 20th May 2008

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