Call to boost security at tips after father-of-five dies ‘scrapping’

Only the presence of mind of an eagle-eyed refuse worker resulted in Jason Marren, also known as Hosker, being found dead at Whinney Hill tip, according to his family.

Mr Marren, 32, was last seen hunting in skips at Burnley’s Heasandford household waste site on September 12, the town’s coroner’s court was told.

His body was discovered by driver Ivor Rees while he was unloading a skip at the Hyndburn landfill site.

Post-mortem tests showed Mr Marren, of Penistone Street, Burnley, had a high level of amphetamines in his system.

His father, Alan Hosker, a taxi driver from Padiham, said: “It is a matter of public concern, when someone is found in a skip.

"It is not going to bring our son back but we would like to prevent this kind of thing happening to someone else. He was found in a skip at Accrington only because he fell the way he did. Had it not been for that we would still have been looking for a missing body.”

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mark Williams, East Lancashire’s deputy coroner, said that the site was already covered by fencing and CCTV but he would pass on the family’s concerns.

The inquest heard that Mr Marren had been to the Heasandford site with friends Shirley Merrill and Alfred Leveritt, hours before his death.

In statements, each said they had left Mr Marren in a skip and he appeared to be well.

Mr Marren often went ‘scrapping’ to earn extra money, the inquest heard.

Home Office pathologist Dr Charles Wilson, who conducted a post-mortem examination, said there were no signs that the deceased had been assaulted.

The level of amphetamines found in his body was enough to cause a potential collapse. He told the inquest that while it was possible Mr Marren may have suffered ‘postural asphixyation’ after collapsing, he could only find, on the balance of probabilities, that the amphetamine usage was the mostly likely cause of death.