A skilled and experienced engineer died when he was struck in the chest by a metal bar he was cleaning in a lathe.

The two-foot-long bar had not been correctly fitted into the machine and bent under the pressure.

Philip Crookes was operating the lathe when the bar bent and he sustained unsurvivable injuries when the warped bar hit him in the chest.

An inquest in Bradford yesterday was told that the 52-year-old suffered a tear to a main artery which led to internal bleeding.

Consultant pathologist Dr Viane Debbagh told the hearing that Mr Crookes would have been dead within a matter of minutes.

Coroner Roger Whittaker heard that Mr Crookes had been working for Dennis Price Woodworking (DPW) based at the Low Moor Business Park, Common Road, Odsal.

The company buys, refurbishes and sells on woodworking machinery and the inquest was told that Mr Crookes's role involved cleaning old machine parts.

Dennis Price, owner of the business, said that they had only bought the lathe a matter of weeks before Mr Crookes died.

He was described by his colleagues as an experienced and skilled engineer but they added that he should have used a grinder rather than the lathe to clean the bar which was part of a planing machine for timber.

Service engineer Martin Sheard, who worked with Mr Crookes said that he and his workmates had just eaten breakfast together and he was returning to work when he heard a thud.

He told the coroner yesterday: "I was walking across the loading bay area when I heard the lathe start up and start to run when I just heard a clatter within the space of a few seconds.

"I walked towards the lathe and that's when I saw Philip staggering away from the lathe. I shouted Philip' and he just looked at me all glazed."

A colleague, Jeffrey Dixon, was soon on the scene and performed CPR while Mr Price phoned the emergency services.

But Mr Crookes, who lived with his wife Belinda, in Queen's Road, Beighton, Sheffield, was pronounced dead at Bradford Royal Infirmary in January last year.

Environmental Health Officer Carol Williamson told the hearing that the metal bar was not suitable to be used in the lathe and had not been correctly fastened.

She said that the lathe, a Colchester 2000, had been in working order and was returned to service soon after the incident.

A jury returned a verdict of misadventure along with a narrative that read: "While operating a Colchester 2000 a metal bar which Mr Crookes had placed in the lathe hit him in the chest."

Mr Whittaker extended his sympathy to Mr Crookes family and praised the way in which they had dealt with his death.