A 20-year-old head chef at a Mid Wales pub accidentally died while suffocating himself for sexual arousal, an inquest heard.

Frankie James Bevan, of Hereford, but who lived and worked at the Severn Arms Hotel, in Penybont, near Llandrindod Wells, where he was found dead, had been engaging in auto-erotic asphyxiation, the coroner heard.

The coroner's verdict from the inquest, which took place at Welshpool Magistrates' Court on Friday, March 1, was that Mr Bevan had died by misadventure.

The coroner, Andrew Barkley, said that on the morning of November 11, 2018, the alarm was raised about Mr Bevan. Police called to where he was living and found him dead on the stairs, the court heard.

A report from a doctor said that Mr Bevan was engaging in auto-erotic asphyxiation; which was associated with his death, the inquest heard.

There was nothing to suggest anything other than pressure on the neck and head was the cause of the death, the doctor's report said. No drugs or alcohol were found in his blood.

The owner of the pub, John Costello, described Mr Bevan as a "lovely quiet lad who worked very hard", in a statement read out by the coroner.

Mr Costello had left Mr Bevan to lock up the pub and leave a key with a colleague before he left to make a trip home to Hereford. When a painter tried to access the property, he got no answer on the door. The upstairs room of the pub was found to be locked, and Mr Costello believed he did not own the key to open it.

Mr Costello said he received a phone call from Frankie's foster mother who had been expecting him to arrive home. This was later corroborated by Anne Hunting, Mr Bevan's foster mother, who said she asked him to return to the property, the coroner heard.

"I started to panic a little," Mr Costello said. He then rang the police to report Mr Bevan missing.

One of Mr Costello's employees imformed him that there was a key which could open the door, so he decided to open it to see if Mr Bevan had left.

He saw a broken banister and a bare foot, stepped back down and called 999, the court heard.

PC Harris, who gave evidence, said that CCTV showed Frankie go up to the hallway at 9.45pm on November 9 and that he doesn't then come back.

A mobile phone was found in a search of his room and relevant searches were made at around 7.30pm on November 9, the police officer told the coroner.

One of Mr Bevan's colleagues, who he become good friends with, said that Frankie "kept himself to himself" and was "very happy-go-lucky". She said she couldn't believe what had happened and that it was the last thing she expected.

The coroner read out a statement from Mrs Hunting, Mr Bevan's foster mother – her last foster child of 100 children.

She said that he "enjoyed going to church" and that he missed going when he worked on weekends.

The coroner, Mr Barkley, described the incident as "very tragic" and gave the verdict as misadventure: where the death is accidental but voluntary risk was taken by the deceased.