A DAD who was a member of a national battle re-enactment society died at home after a suspected heart attack, an inquest heard.

Jeremy Tomlinson, 40, was found dead by his wife of 20 years Gina at their home in Grane Road, Haslingden, on June 4 last year.

The inquest heard that Mr Tomlinson, who was an insurance broker in Oswaldtwistle and a member of the Sealed Knot 17th Century Re-enactment Society, had a heart that was almost twice the size of a normal heart, and drank ‘more than he should have done’.

In a written statement his wife said that she had noticed Mr Tomlinson had started to slow down a little in the month before his death, and seemed to have less energy than normal and was falling asleep more often.

On Saturday June 2 the couple had gone to Towneley Park in Burnley with their four-year-old son Jake, and Jeremy had fallen asleep in the car on the way there and the way back.

On Sunday evening Mrs Tomlinson had gone to bed and left her husband watching TV.

She heard him go outside to have a cigarette but then woke up in the morning and he had not gone to bed. She said she presumed he had fallen asleep downstairs.

She then went downstairs and found him in a chair and ‘realised something was terribly wrong’. An ambulance was called but was unable to save him.

Mrs Tomlinson said: “Jeremy was a very social person and he did enjoy a social drink. He could hold his drink very well.

“He was able to consume quite a lot of alcohol, and he probably drank more alcohol than he should have done.

“It was something that was mentioned to him from a health perspective, but it didn’t change his behaviour.”

Dr Abdul Al-Dawoud, consultant pathologist at East Lancashire Hospitals, told the inquest that Mr Tomlinson’s heart was nearly twice the size of a normal heart, and that it was pale in colour, indicating that he could have had a heart attack as a result of high blood pressure.

East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor recorded a natural causes verdict.