Habanero Club !

A chilli challenge to find out who could handle the hottest sauce may have killed a food nut.

Andrew Lee had a bet with his girlfriend's brother over who could eat the home-made concoction.

But hours after eating it, the 33-year-old was found dead in bed after suffering an apparent heart attack.

Mr Lee rustled up the sauce with fiery red chillis grown by his father on an allotment and cooked them in tomato sauce, the opening of his inquest heard.

But after eating a plateful he started scratching all over his body.

His girlfriend, Samantha Bailey, eased his itching and he fell asleep but was found dead in the morning.

Mr Lee's sister, Claire, said, the 33-year-old had challenged Miss Bailey's brother Michael, 29, to the contest.

'My dad grew the chillis especially for Andrew,' she said. 'Andrew just ate them with a plate of Dolmio.

'He apparently got into bed at 2.30am and started scratching all over. His girlfriend scratched his back until he fell asleep. She woke up and he had gone. It is incredible. Who would have thought he could have died from eating chilli sauce?'

Miss Lee, 29, added: 'He loved cooking for his friends and was a good cook.

'He always said he wanted to be a chef but didn't want to start at the bottom.'

The happened in the village of Edlington, near Doncaster.

An inquest has been adjourned into forklift truck driver Mr Lee's death while further toxicology tests are undertaken.