A 25-YEAR-OLD father-of-three was crushed to death while trying to steal a catalytic convertor from a car, an inquest heard.Daniel Stephens, 25, from Blaenavon, was found dead underneath a BMW by the car owner in Cymmer High Street car park.

The inquest in Pontypridd heard that a jack the dead man had used to raise the car had collapsed, causing "crush asphyxia".Car owner Russel Seldon told the hearing he was on his way to work early on August 12 last year when he noticed Mr Stephens’ legs sticking out from under the BMW around 6am."I walked across the street from my house to my car which was in the small car park opposite," he said in a statement."I saw a pair of legs sticking out from under the car, wearing dark coloured bottoms and trainers."I called out and pulled on the person’s leg to see if they were okay, but there was no response."The man did not appear to be breathing, and he called the emergency services.Aaron Godfrey, who had been sharing his Ynysybwl house with him in the previous weeks, said Mr Stephens had told him he needed money to attend court to get more access to his children, having separated from his partner.He told the inquest in a statement the dad-of-three had been "down and stressed" the previous evening"He had spoken about stealing a catalytic converter from a BMW he had seen in Porth," he added. "He knew it would be worth around £500 - but I told him not to do anything stupid or steal anything."Mr Godfrey said he heard a car driving off from outside the house around 1am and assumed it was Mr Stephens.Next morning at 5am there was no sign of him, so he drove to the car park and saw people and police standing by a silver BMW and legs sticking out from beneath the vehicle."I knew it was Daniel," he said.PC Leah Jeffries told the inquest his body was "cold and stiff" and there was blood on Mr Stephens’ back. There were a jack and torch next to him and she could see his chest had been crushed by the weight of the car when emergency services raised the vehicle.Mr Stephens was later identified from his fingerprints and tattoos.The inquest was told that small traces of tramadol and alcohol were found in his body, and a post-mortem showed face, neck and chest injuries typical of crushing by a heavy weight, with the cause of death given as "crush asphyxia".Assistant coroner for South Wales Central Rachel Knight gave a conclusion of accidental death.She gave condolences to Mr Stephens’ family and friends, and said: "It is evident he is greatly missed by many people."Stepfather Andrew Stephens said he "loved bikes, building and fixing things".Picture from Google