War veteran engineer dies after electric shock

Thursday 13 July 2017

An Inquest in Jersey has heard how a former British Army engineer, described as a "wonderful man" by his wife, died in May after receiving a fatal electric shock while trying to fix a cooker.

Antony Daniel Gadd (52), known as Tony, was working in the cottage he was renovating with his wife, when he was fatally electrocuted on 25 May.

It is believed that Mr Gadd, who served during nine years in the British Army as part of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and was a veteran of the first Gulf War, either forgot to switch the circuit off before starting to work on the cooker, or switched off the wrong one.

Born on 6 April 1965 in Eastbourne, Tony Gadd moved to Jersey in 2011, three years after meeting a woman from the island through their mutual passion for horses. The two married in 2012 and were renovating a cottage in St. Ouen. They were also planning a business of restoring classic cars.

The inquest heard that on the morning of 25 May, the cooker stopped working whilst his wife was cooking breakfast. Mr Gadd promised to have a look at it but his wife said not to. Having bought a MG at Glencoe auction the day before, Mr Gadd was due to meet his wife to collect the vehicle around 15:00. When he failed to arrive, his wife phoned him, and when he didn't answer, she made her way back home. 

When Mr Gadd's wife went into the house, she found him in the kitchen, stuck behind the cooker which had been slightly pulled from the wall. She tried to move him and received a small electric shock. She then phoned the paramedics who made several unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him. 

Dr Peter Southall, consulting histopathologist at Jersey Hospital, said that Mr. Gadd's death would have been immediate. He explained: "When someone receives an electric shock, the current flows directly through the body to the heart and either stops it right away, or makes it go into a very irregular rhythm." 

Electrical engineers examined the installation at Mr Gadd's home and found that, as the kitchen was not completely renovated, a separated fuse switch for the cooker was not installed. They noted that, while the electrical installation did not meet existing standards, "...it should not have affected the operation in relation to the incident."

They also explained that while they hadn't been able to precisely identify what had happened, it appeared "...the householder attempted repairs while the cooker was still permanently connected to the main circuit. He either forgot to switch the cooker off before starting to work or isolated a different circuit by disconnecting the wrong fuse."

His wife said that they shared an interest in horses and loved the outdoors. He had a "keen passion" for classic cars and was a "skilled engineer and mechanic" who "could turn his hand to anything." She said: "He was my world, my best friend, my husband and my soulmate. I am lucky to have met him and so fortunate to have been so close to him. He was a wonderful man."

Concluding the Inquest, Deputy Viscount Mark Harris said Mr Gadd's cause of death was "...a fatal electric shock while attempting repairs on a cooker that was still connected to the mains electricity in the kitchen of his home."