AN 82-year-old father-of-six was found dead on his bed after attacking his daughter, an inquest heard.

Barry Fielding was found by the police at his flat in River Way, Barrowford, on Tuesday, August 23.

His youngest daughter Patricia Horne had visited her father at around 9.30am on her way to work to check in on him.

She told the hearing: “I reached up to take a shirt out of the wardrobe and I felt something hit me really hard on the back of my head.

“I was stood facing him crying, I was shouting stop it.

"I could see he had a sock with something hard in which he was swinging.

“He was violent and controlling as we were growing up.

"I think it got worse after the death of my mother in January 2011.”

She managed to push her dad away, before running out the flat and into a shop across the road to call 999.

Mr Fielding had previously suffered with depression and anxiety, the inquest was told, and his daughters Lynn Holt and Carol Broderick said after the hearing that the family were unhappy at the support he received.

Mrs Holt said: “We as a family felt very let down by social services.

“We asked numerous times for help. All along we were let down.

“We expected something like this would happen, but we didn’t expect he’d attack our sister.”

The body was found by PC Jacqueline Fitzpatrick who was sent to the scene after it was reported a man was in the flat with a ‘metal bar’.

PC Fitzpatrick said: “I could see spots of blood on the floor and up the stairs. I could see more blood splattered on floor outside the flat.”

The police officer then found the body on the bed inside and attempted administering CPR.

He was taken by ambulance services to Royal Blackburn Hospital and arrived just after 11.10am, before he was pronounced dead at 11.40am.

A post mortem was carried out by Dr Naomi Carter who found that no third party was involved in Mr Fielding’s death.

She found that he had issues with heart problems and had previously suffered a stroke.

Dr Carter said: “The heart and brain diseases were contributing factors which made him more likely to die quickly.”

Coroner Michael Singleton concluded the cause of death was suicide.

He said: “There is little doubt there is a cocktail of emotions for his daughters left behind.”

Jane Gent, from Lancashire Care mental health trust, said Mr Fielding was referred on August 8, before an assessment was carried out on August 16, and it was reported he wasn’t feeling suicidal.

GP Dr M Naseem said he visited Mr Fielding on August 10.