A LANDLORD acted in self-defence when he grabbed a customer causing a fatal neck injury, an inquest was told.

The inquest heard Thomas Mercer died of a brain haemorrhage less than an hour after being restrained and slapped by Bob Inn licensee Derek Wolfenden at the Darwen pub.

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Mr Mercer, 56, who was known as ‘Tam’, died at Royal Blackburn Hospital in the early hours of November 5 last year.

The cause of death at the inquest yesterday was given as a subarachnoid haemorrhage, the same as Australian cricketer Philip Hughes who died last November.

Mr Wolfenden had originally been arrested on suspicion of murder but was released without charge earlier this year.

The hearing heard how Mr Mercer, a factory worker, and his partner of 20 years Margaret Quinn had been drinking at the Cock Inn on Tuesday, November 4, from 4.30pm before moving on to the Bob Inn to play bingo at 7pm.

Mr Wolfenden said that Mr Mercer had thrown a pint glass at his partner before hitting her in the face, prompting Mr Wolfenden to grab him by the neck and pull him away.

After Mr Mercer, a step-father-of-eight, started to attack the landlord, he was further restrained before being ejected from the building.

The hearing then heard how he returned home to Birch Hall Avenue where he went up to a bedroom.

Mr Mercer’s son, John, said that he then walked around the bed, caught his foot on some clothes, but then collapsed on the floor.

He started CPR until the paramedics arrived. Mr Mercer was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5.40am on Wednesday, November 5.

Michael Singleton, the senior coroner for Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, gave a verdict of accidental death and said that he was satisfied that Mr Wolfenden’s actions were out of self defence, but had been the cause of Mr Mercer’s death.

He added that the injuries were sustained in a lawful manner.

Mr Wolfenden told the inquest: “What’s done is done but I will be devastated if I’m responsible.

“Tam’s actions were completely out of character and he was not a violent person.

“I grabbed him around the neck. I turned him away from Margaret and put him on the floor in a circular movement.

“He was foaming from the mouth and had lost the plot.”

Pathologist Dr Philip Lumb said that Mr Mercer was almost three times the drink drive limit after consuming around seven pints that evening.

He added that a delay of almost an hour was ‘very rare’ for that type of injury and that people normally died within a ‘matter of seconds’.

Mrs Quinn repeatedly told the inquest that she could not remember parts of the evening but did remember falling over, being taken home and being helped into bed by her son, John.

She added that her partner had been complaining of suffering headaches for the previous three months.

She said: “He was never violent. He was always all right.”