An inquest jury has found that the death of an engineer who was crushed in a lift shaft while working on a ferry in Falmouth Docks was an accident.

Steven Summerside, from Sunderland, was 44 when he died while working on the Irish Ferries-owned MV Ulysses on January 11.

He was last seen alive on CCTV, which showed him opening the doors of the shaft before stepping onto a lift car, although the footage did not record whether or not he engaged safety mechanisms to prevent the lift from moving while he was working.

While Mr Summerside was in the lift shaft, the inquest heard, colleagues unknowingly called the lift to a higher deck, which led to him being crushed between the top of the car and the top of the shaft.

Workmates then spent several hours searching the ship for Mr Summerside, before his body was found, and crew members and paramedics spent an hour carrying out CPR but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post mortem report found that he had died from traumatic asphyxia, and he had also suffered injuries to his head, ribs and a wound to his leg.

Much of the inquest focused around the question of why the lift was not in inspection mode, which would have prevented it from moving.

Health and Safety Executive representatives said there were questions over whether full risk assessments had been carried out for working in the lift shaft.

A jury found at the end of the three day inquest that Mr Summerside had died as a result of an accident.