Two teenage brothers from Mountnessing, Brentwood, died in tragic accidents within months of each other, an inquest heard.

One died in the snow from hypothermia. The other after falling from a haystack onto concrete.

On Tuesday, a verdict of accidental death was recorded by Essex coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray in both cases.

Chelmsford Coroner’s Court heard Nathan Job, who reached his 18th birthday three weeks before his death, was out drinking with friends on January 8, 2010 and was last seen at 4am helping a friend to push a car out of the snow.

That night the temperature fell to -4C and there was heavy snow. At about 7am Nathan’s mother Rita Harding discovered him lying unresponsive and cold outside the back door of their home in Church Road, Mountnessing.

He was confirmed dead at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, at lunchtime that day. The inquest was told he had died from fluid in the lungs due to hypothermia. At the time of his death his family said they believed he slipped on ice outside the door and fell unconscious.

Inquest

In the second tragedy, his older brother Connor Job, 19, was playing a game of tag with friends on top of a large haystack at High Woods End, Nathans Lane, Writtle, near Chelmsford, on September 12.

The inquest was told he lost his balance and fell 20ft from the top onto concrete.

He died later in Queen’s Hospital, Romford, from a head injury and a ruptured stomach.

The haystack was made of plastic wrapped bales. It is understood an examination by the Health and Safety Executive found it had been built up correctly.

Mrs Beasley-Murray told the brothers’ devastated parents, Greg Job and Rita: “It’s very difficult to know what to say to you. You lost both Nathan and Connor in these extraordinarily tragic circumstances.”

The brothers also leave behind a brother and sister.