AN ADVENTUROUS 34-year-old died five days after breaking his leg in a mountain biking accident, an inquest heard.

Richard Jennings, who was nicknamed “Stitch” by his family and friends, was a “keen cyclist” who had attempted to tackle a steep downhill track in Hamsterley Forest.

The rig worker from Skelton, east Cleveland, was heard screaming by passers-by after being thrown over the handlebars and down a 30ft drop in the woodland on February 25.

North East Ambulance Service paramedics assessed Mr Jennings, who had suffered a broken leg and wrist, at the scene before taking him to Darlington Memorial Hospital for surgery.

Assistant coroner Dr Leslie Hamilton said: “There was concern that his oxygen levels were falling significantly – his lungs weren’t working very well.

“Mr Jennings had a fat embolism – that’s where the marrow of the broken bone is released into the bloodstream and marrow contains globules of fat.

“When that gets to the lungs they get filtered out but they block the transfer of oxygen into the bloodstream.

“Richard continued to deteriorate and had to be put onto a ventilator and was receiving 100 per cent oxygen.”

“At this point, the team in Darlington contacted Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester.”

A team from the hospital, Europe’s largest extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) centre, dedicated to critically-ill patients with heart and lung failure, was despatched to Darlington to take Mr Jennings back to the Leicester, where he later died.

A statement from a consultant at Glenfield said: “It was very appropriate that the team in Darlington contacted us.

“Mr Jennings went into cardiac arrest while they waited for the team from Leicester to arrive and he was successfully resuscitated.

“Unfortunately, while he was on the ECMO machine, he went into multi-organ failure and sadly died.”

Assistant coroner Dr Hamilton told the Crook inquest: “We have a young man engaging in exercise and sport – he obviously enjoyed it and it was something he was quite experienced at.

“Accidents are not uncommon in mountain biking and he suffered what seemed to be a relatively straightforward injury in a broken leg.

“The majority of people with a broken leg recover uneventfully after an operation. However, some patients develop an embolism and there’s no specific treatment for that.

“Despite the use of cutting edge technology, he died. It’s a rare complication, but even rare complications do happen from time to time.

“It’s very upsetting to hear a young person dying doing the activity they enjoyed.”

Dr Hamilton concluded Mr Jennings’ death on March 2 was accidental.