Paul Gladwell Pontins death inquest: restraint 'done properly'

Paul Reynolds, also known as Paul Gladwell, died in hospital two days after the incident at Pontins Pakefield near Lowestoft in 2017.

Pontins worker David Foster told an inquest he was off-duty and in the bar on the evening of February 14 when Mr Reynolds’s partner Carrie Bennett came over and accosted another woman in his group about her child’s behaviour.

Mr Foster said Ms Bennett was verbally aggressive and 38-year-old Mr Reynolds, from Colchester, had tried to get her to leave.

He said Mr Reynolds left the bar then returned and joined the argument.

He said Mr Reynolds’s arms were “waving around”adding: “I said ‘Calm down, there’s children present’, that’s when he stepped towards me.”

Mr Foster said Mr Reynolds “moved the table and chairs out of the way to get to me”.

Mr Foster said he stood up from his seat.

“He lunged at me, that’s when (security worker) Tim (Cator-Durrant) grabbed him from behind,” he said.

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Mr Foster said there were “seconds” between him standing up and Mr Reynolds “lunging” at him.

He said he helped security staff restrain Mr Reynolds on the ground “for the safety of other staff and other guests that were around, and himself ”.

He said he never had a knee on Mr Reynolds’s back, adding that his knee was “on the floor close to his body”.

He said they checked Mr Reynolds was breathing and he helped police carry him to the police van once officers arrived.

Asked if he would have done anything differently, he said: “If I could have walked away, not got up.”

He added the restraint was “done properly”.

The inquest was previously told that police stopped the van “when they noticed Mr Reynolds being unwell” and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

n The inquest continues.