Death of woman crushed by a hotel wardrobe remains under investigation after three years

North Wales Live

04-06-2025

The death of "kind and caring" Chloe Haynes remains under investigation three years after she was crushed to death by a wardrobe at a hotel.
Chloe Haynes was pronounced dead in her hotel room following the incident on September 10, 2022. Despite initially arresting three men on suspicion of murder, authorities released them without charges, deeming the fatality an unfortunate accident.
Chloe had travelled from the Welsh holiday park where she was working to stay at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool city centre.
Liverpool Council's Environmental Health subsequently initiated an investigation. Yet it remains under investigation with the council offered no fixed timeline for its completion, merely confirming the ongoing nature of the probe.
The need for answers has further been delayed as a pre-inquest review into Ms Haynes' mysterious demise has been put off, despite originally being scheduled with Liverpool Coroner's Office for Thursday, June 5, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Chloe's mother, Nicola Williams, remains desperate to know the full circumstances behind the loss of her "petite and beautiful" daughter, whom she affectionately termed "birdy".
Chloe, who had a twin brother and four siblings, had travelled to Liverpool for a night out from the Hafan y Mor Haven Holiday Park in Pwllheli, North Wales, where she was employed. Sharing a city centre hotel room with a workmate who later discovered her body, Chloe's tragic incident led to an alarm being raised.
Miss Williams from Wrexham said : "Chloe left Pwllheli around 7.40pm and they went to the Adelphi, there was some sort of engagement party or something. By midnight, she had been drinking shots and so on and she was a bit drunk, so her friend has taken her back to the hotel to sleep it off and then he's gone back out.
"It seems she has got up out of the bed confused, not knowing where she is, and she's opened the door of the wardrobe maybe thinking it is the toilet or the door to go back out of the room. It was a big, old, heavy wardrobe and it's fallen on her and crushed her windpipe."
Miss Williams detailed that Chloe's colleague returned to find a distressing scene in the early hours, crying out for aid. Two fellow guests rushed to assist in lifting the wardrobe from Chloe, yet it was too late to revive her.
It was these three individuals who were questioned by the police concerning Chloe's death. Wayne Kenny, a Bootle resident, described his shock at being arrested on suspicion of murder to the ECHO after he attempted to give Chloe CPR.
Following Chloe's death, Mr Kenny said: "I was thinking could I get accused for something I haven't done, could they make a mistake? To be thinking that for 10 hours was hard work. "
Miss Williams, speaking about her loss, said: "She loved animals. She had a little dog called Archie she was obsessed with. There are so many photos of them together. My little nickname for her was birdy. She was so petite and little and when she ate she was like a little bird. She was quiet, she was somebody who didn't speak unless it needed saying.
"But in the last 12 months she was coming out of her shell. She was gaining her confidence and she had a wide circle of friends. She was kind and caring and she seemed to connect with gay men and that was how she met the friend she went to Liverpool with."
In the wake of Chloe's death, Liverpool Council conducted spot checks on the premises and on September 22, issued prohibition notices to Britannia Hotels regarding the safety of the wardrobes found in Chloe's room.
The spot checks also discovered issues concerning the windows at the hotel. Although not legally required, where window restrictors are installed to prevent falls, they must be kept in good condition.
Britannia contested the notices regarding the safety of wardrobes and the council agreed to withdraw them after seeing evidence that work had been undertaken to ensure their safety. The company withdrew its appeal against the notice regarding windows and that was affirmed.