Beer barrel 'tampered with'

A beer keg which exploded in the face of a Black Country father, killing him instantly, was likely to have been tampered with an inquest revealed.

Ricky Bunn, aged 32, was killed when he was loading kegs of beer at the Gateway To India Pub in Soho, Handsworth, on May 24 this year. A post mortem revealed he died from an open head injury. A two day inquest was due to conclude today at Birmingham Coroner's Court.

Mr Bunn, a father of two, of Lodge Road, Darlaston, was working at the pub with friend Lee Abbotts. The two were moving kegs of beer from the cellar to a hire van.

The barrel exploded when Mr Abbotts passed one up to Mr Bunn, killing him instantly. The explosion was so powerful it caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to the roof of the pub. The inquest revealed the keg of beer was 21-years-old and was owned by Coors Brewers in Burton on Trent.

Simon Cox, technical director for Coors Brewers, said the brewery has hundreds of thousands of kegs in existence and this was first time he knew of one exploding in such a way.

He said kegs of beer went through rigorous safety checks and were inspected around 10 times a year when brought back to the brewery to be refilled. But the keg which exploded had been at the pub for over a year. Tests revealed a dent on the bottom but experts said this would not have had an affect and would not have caused it to explode.

An average keg would have 25 to 35 pounds per square inch of pressure inside it but Mr Cox believed this keg must have had hundreds of pounds per square inch added to it. He said the most likely source was that someone had used a gas cylinder to add pressure.

Speaking at the inquest he said: "This type of incident is unheard of. In normal circumstances it would be impossible. This keg had been overpressurised. I believe the keg was subject to gross overpressure which was probably the result of being linked up to a gas cylinder. I believe this would have taken place not far away from where the incident occurred."

The inquest continues.