AN EPILEPSY expert has raised doubts at an inquest about the effectiveness of a sensor under a York man’s mattress which failed to go off when he suffered a seizure.

Professor Pamela Crawford was speaking yesterday at the ongoing inquest into the death of Danny Tozer, who suffered a cardiac arrest and died in September 2015 after having the fit in his bed at supported living accommodation in Bishopthorpe, run by the charity Mencap.

The inquest had heard previously that the sensor did not raise the alarm and might even have been switched off.

The retired neurologist, who specialised in epilepsy, said such sensors were ‘probably the best technology available’ but ‘not very good,’ and better ones were currently being developed which were in trials.

Asked whether the monitoring of Danny, 36, an autistic man with a severe learning disability, should have been increased by Mencap support workers to reduce the risk of ‘Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy’ (SUDEP), Prof Crawford said Danny had had to have some freedom and some time alone.

She said that if he was in hospital on a normal ward, observations would be done every four hours.

She said that over the past 20 years, it had been recognised that people with epilepsy had a higher risk of cardiac arrest, and that risk was increased if they had ongoing seizures, a learning disability and slept alone - as was the case with Danny.

Earlier, a City of York Council social worker told the hearing she was satisfied the sensor had not been turned off, even though a police officer, Detective Sergeant Colin Park, had "relayed" to her that police believed it had been switched off while Danny was having "private time" in his bedroom.

Emma Leishman, then an adult safeguarding social worker, said that if she hadn’t been satisfied, further inquiries would have been made.

DS Park told the inquest last week he did not recall any discussion of the sensor with a member of council staff and he had seen nothing that indicated the sensor was turned off.

Other doctors told yesterday of the increased risk of cardiac arrest for people with epilepsy if they were lying in a prone position on their bed, as Danny was when he was found after the seizure at the house.

Cardiologist Stephen Saltissi said many people suffering SUDEP were found in a prone position. Seizures caused cardiac or respiratory depression, and the consequences of that would be exacerbated by being in a prone position with the airway compromised. He added that an echocardiogram had shown no major structural abnormality in the heart. The hearing continues.