An overweight Englishman slept on his partner and accidentally suffocated her to death.

Robert Trigg, 47, weighing 13 stone (182 pounds), recently moved to Worthing in West Sussex with Susan Nicholson, 52, who was a former insurance employee, according to the Sun.

They slept on a sofa and Nicholson might have been suffocated for just 15 seconds, an inquest has heard. Trigg got up in the morning, and "realised he couldn't hear her breathing."

A pathologist from Home Office told the Worthing investigation that hemorrhages on Susan were consistent with the pressure of someone sleeping on her.

"There is no doubt that death was caused by Mr Trigg overlaying on her face. There is no evidence whatsoever that this was part of an altercation," Coroner Michael Kendall, recording an accident verdict, said.

Trigg was upset after officers first thought he had deliberately killed his girlfriend. "It was a freak accident and I lost my partner," he said.