A POPULAR Saints fan died after choking on a piece of meat during a meal at a Southampton restaurant.

Winchester Coroner’s Courtheard how Towan Kosted was out celebrating Saints 6-1 home victory over Aston Villa with his friend Gary Waterhouse at Casa Brasil on May 16.

The 37-year-old former Barton Peveril College student had travelled down from Warwick, where he worked as a design engineer, to attend the game. Mr Waterhouse told the inquest how Mr Kosted was in high spirits following the match and they had gone to several pubs off London Road.

Towan had drunk around four pints but did not appear to be drunk, the inquest heard. The friends then went to Casa Brazil in Latimer Street where they had a cold buffet meal.

Mr Waterhouse described how he and restaurant staff noticed something was wrong when Mr Kosted was slouched on the table.

Staff at the restaurant took Mr Kosted to the toilets where he collapsed and an ambulance was called.

Senior Coroner Grahame Short heard how the manager tried to help by carrying out the Heimlich manoeuvre.

A customer in the restaurant who was medically trained also performed CPR on Mr Kosted before paramedics arrived and managed to remove a piece of meat from his throat.

He was then taken to Southampton General Hospital, where he suffered a heart attack, his condition worsened and he was admitted to intensive care.

Giving evidence, Dr Fedric Skinner, a consultant in intensive care at Southampton General Hospital, said that doctors managed to remove food from Mr Kosted’s airways, but they had been blocked and subsequently had starved his brain of oxygen long enough to cause critical injury.

Surgeons operated on Mr Kosted but he died four days later, on May 20.

The inquest heard evidence that Mr Kosted was taking drugs for a medical condition but that it was unlikely this had led to his choking.

Mr Short recorded a verdict of accidental death, describing the choking as a situation nobody could have anticipated.

Following the inquest Mr Kosted’s mother paid tribute to her son who was “exceptionally liked by so many people”.