An inquest into the death of Shaun Gilmore has recorded a verdict of accidental death. The court heard how the celebrity chef died from fatal injuries after he lost control of his motorcycle on his way home from work in March.
The 38 year-old Executive Chef at the National Dining Rooms at the National Gallery, had caught a train from Waterloo to Winchester station, where he proceeded to ride his gold Honda ST 1100 motorcycle back to his home in South Wonston.
According to a report in the Hampshire Chronicle, the post mortem revealed traces of amphetamines and that Gilmore was more than three times over the legal drink drive limit. He is thought not to have been wearing a helmet, and suffered fatal injuries to his chest and head just 100 yards from the home he shared with wife Susan and nine month-old son Harry.
Christopher Wilkinson, Assistant Deputy Coroner for Central Hampshire, told the court: "Taking into account the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream, it was inevitable that he would have been inhibited in the way he would have been riding the motorcycle."
Gilmore frequented British television screens with appearances on BBC’s Celebrity Chef and more recently, a dedicated episode of Celebrity Masterchef. His prestigious career included a spell at the Dorchester before being appointed head chef at Vong London in 1998. Gilmore then worked in various establishments around the world, before accepting the position of head chef at the National Dining Rooms in July last year, a move that saw him receive Time Out’s Best British Restaurant award just three months later.