A mum-of-three who died after being trapped in a care home lift pleaded for help as rescuers desperately tried to reach her.

Joan Daws suffered severe brain damage after a freak set of circumstances left her pinned against the wall of the tiny elevator at the Laleham in Herne Bay.

The 64-year-old had been deputy manager of the seafront home at the time of the tragic incident, which was played out in harrowing detail at an inquest into her death this week.

A jury was told Mrs Daws had wheeled a weighing chair backwards into the lift on October 16, 2013, and stood behind it.

But the foot rests on the chair snagged on the lip of the door as the lift descended, tipping the chair back into the carer and trapping her by her chest and neck against the back of the carriage as the elevator jammed.

She frantically called for help, shouting: “Help me, I can’t breathe.”

More than a dozen care home staff gave evidence at the inquest in Sandwich, describing Mrs Daws as a popular, hard-working team member.

"The door shut and then it started going down. I then heard a terrible scream and the lift jumped as if it had stuck..." - Gillian Wooster

Gillian Wooster was working as a domestic in the home and was with colleague Beverley Frankland when the tragedy happened.

She told the hearing: “I saw her open the door to the lift and walk in backwards, pulling the scales in front of her.

“She went to the back of the lift towards the left. As the door closed I saw her reach for the control panel and thought, how is she going to reach from there?

“The door shut and then it started going down. I then heard a terrible scream and the lift jumped as if it had stuck.”

The pair rushed to tell home manager Lynn Laxton, who called 999 and told them to alert maintenance man Alan Hopkins.

Mrs Wooster said: “We went back up and saw another carer, Karen Reed, tapping on the window of the lift door trying to talk to Joan.

“I heard Joan make some noises. The last thing I heard her say was ‘help me, I can’t breathe’.”

Mr Hopkins was trying to get into the lift when firefighters arrived.

He said: “I looked through the glass pane of the lift door and could see the back of Joan’s head. Another carer was banging on the glass but could get no response from Joan.

“I didn’t know at this time that the weighing chair was also in the lift. I opened a panel to expose a door release screw on the first floor, but couldn’t open the inner lattice gate because it was jammed.

“The firefighters arrived and were struggling to get Joan out, so I suggested opening the door on the lift entrance on the floor above.”

"I could see she was pinned by the chair to her throat and the bottom of the chair was wedged against the wall and was stuck..." - Firefighter Steve Enright

Herne Bay firefighter Steve Enright removed his tunic to climb through a confined space to reach Mrs Daws.

He said: “I could see she was pinned by the chair to her throat and the bottom of the chair was wedged against the wall and was stuck.

“We managed to free her and drag her out of the lift. My colleagues and I started emergency first aid until the paramedics arrived.”

Mrs Daws was taken to the QEQM hospital in Margate, but had suffered severe brain damage caused by traumatic asphyxia and died five days later.

Carer Jackie Oxford described Joan as “a lovely lady and good friend” and broke down in tears as she described what had happened.

In a statement read out by assistant coroner James Dillon, she described looking through the glass window of the lift door.

She said: “I could see Joan was still and knew she was gone. I don’t know why she pulled the chair into the lift, although it could have been because it was easier than pushing. I always stood to the side. It was common sense.”

Carer Carol Dale told the inquest that she did not like using the lift and could not understand why Mrs Daws walked the weighing chair into it backwards.

She said: “How or why she got in that way I can’t say. I have used the lift to take the scales for weighing clients and push them like a wheelchair and stand at the side.

“I was always told to stand at the side and have seen other staff do that. I don’t see how you can stand behind them.”

Fellow carer Christine Wells added: “It was not the way the scales should go in the lift. I use them a lot and always push them in and stand at the side. I’ve always done it that way. In fact, Joan did my induction and she was the one who told me how to stand.”

But Sarah Good, who had left her job as a carer at the home before the accident, said she had seen staff members pull wheelchairs into the lift and stand behind them on many occasions.

She described an incident in the lift in which she herself was injured while transporting a mobile hoist.

She said: “The manager told me to take it to the top floor. I went in backwards as it was easier to manoeuvre. My back was against the gate but as the lift went up the wheel of the hoist got caught on the lips between the floors. It caused the hoist to fall back, trapping my arm against the trellis gate.

“I screamed as I thought it was going to crush my arm but I quickly managed to reach the button and stop the lift. I was upset and shocked and had a bruise but did not feel it was necessary to go to hospital.”

"I could see Joan was still and knew she was gone. I don’t know why she pulled the chair into the lift, although it could have been because it was easier than pushing" - Jackie Oxford

Miss Good said she had no specific training on carrying equipment in the lift but following her accident stood at the side of chairs and hoists.

Mrs Daws’ son, Simon Daws, said she was a divorcee who had worked all her life as a single parent to buy her own home.

He said she was caring and a keen cake maker who was looking forward to her retirement when she had paid her mortgage off.

The tragedy sparked an ongoing investigation by Canterbury City Council’s environmental health department.

The inquest heard that there had been at least two previous incidents involving staff carrying bulky equipment in the lift, which was more than 40 years old and had a carriage measuring less than a metre square.

On both occasions a hoist was being transported and became snagged as the lift began moving. It resulted in a carer suffering a bruised arm and on another occasion two staff members becoming trapped in the lift and had to be rescued.

Questioned by lawyers for the Daws family and city council, the then joint owner of the home, Anne Hooper, admitted it had last had a full regulation safety inspection in 2005, when it should have been every six months.

She told the inquest that she should have been aware of the obligations of the Lift Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations, known as LOLER, but was not prior to the tragedy.

She said: “I thought we were covered because the lift was being regularly serviced and maintained by our contractor, who I thought would have told us.”

The inquest heard that soon after the tragedy, sensors were installed to prevent the elevator from operating if there was anything obstructing the entrance. The capacity had also been reduced from four people to two.

The home was operated by Kent County Residential Homes at the time of the tragedy, but is now run by Veecare Homes.

The manager at the time, Lynn Laxton, did not attend the hearing to give evidence because she was said to be suffering post traumatic stress disorder.

Mrs Hooper said it was Mrs Laxton’s job to manage the day-to-day running of the home and train staff.

She said: “I expected her to risk assess anything in the building, but I would discuss things with her as I had training.”

The inquest was told that there was information in the home’s risk assessment folder which advised staff they should stand to the side of equipment when it was being transported in the lift.

Mrs Hooper said she visited the home regularly and never saw staff standing behind equipment.

The inquest continues.