Man found dead at Bristol waste plant 'slept in bin'

A man whose body was found at a waste recycling plant in Bristol is thought to have slept in a bin after being turned away from a homeless shelter.

An inquest into the death of Matthew Symonds, 34, heard he had been staying at Booth House in Swindon.

But he had been turned away at 03:00 BST on 30 July. The hostel stops admitting people at 23:00.

He was last seen on CCTV at 03:51 and his remains were found at 10:46 on 1 August at the Biffa plant in Avonmouth.

The jury at Salisbury Coroner's Court heard Mr Symonds had been a drug user who had taken heroin that day. He had just been released from prison and was staying at the Salvation Army hostel.

A support worker said he had been told to return at 08:00 on 1 August and he left with no trouble.

The industrial waste bin, which he is believed to have climbed into, was picked up at 05:47 by driver Ian Coward.

Mr Coward said he had opened it and could see "nothing out of the ordinary", just a plasma TV box.

He said he would have seen someone standing up in the back of the lorry as there was a camera inside and it was fair to assume that anyone caught by the blade would have been lying down.

The bin was taken to a recycling plant in Swindon for storage, where Mr Symonds is believed to have lain among piles of paper and cardboard until the morning of 1 August.

He was loaded into a lorry before being taken to the Biffa depot and put onto a conveyor. An hour later, Mr Symonds' remains were discovered.

Biffa safety manager Timothy Standring said about 100 people had been found in bins their staff emptied 13 million times in the last year.

In a statement, Susan Symonds described her grandson as "well mannered" but said he had taken the "wrong path in life".

The inquest continues.