A DEFIANT smoker, left a paraplegic after a road crash, caught pneumonia because he refused to give up his habit, his daughter believes.

Christopher McDonald, 51, ignored medical advice to continually smoke outside Burnley General Hospital, his daughter Victoria told an inquest.

Later Mr McDonald, who was on a ward following a series of circulation problems, cont-racted pneumonia and died, Burnley Coroner’s Court was told.

Mr McDonald, of Kay Gar-dens, Burnley, had lost the use of his legs following a road accident in 1987, when he had swerved to avoid an animal in the road.

Miss McDonald said that one of her father’s leg was amputated after he suffered spasms, because of poor circulation. But he also had a number of accidents while in hospital, which also affected his legs, and further operations were necessary, she added.

She said: “In the last nine months of his hospital stay he was outside all of the time smoking. He would not stay in his bed and take the pressure off his leg.

“The reason he died of broncho-pneumonia, I was told, was because he was outside the hospital smoking.”

Consultant pathologist Dr Walid Salman said, when he conducted a post mortem examination on Mr McDonald, there was evidence his heart arteries had severely narrowed, before his death.

The doctor said it was possible that the deceased’s lack of mobility may have made him “susceptible” to a chest infection.

But his poor circulation could also be attributed to his heavy smoking habit.

Coroner Richard Taylor said both factors could have played a role in Mr McDonald’s death, according to the medical evidence.

Mr Taylor recorded a narrative verdict, which said: “Christopher McDonald died of broncho-pneumonia on October 19, 2008.

“He was a heavy smoker who was involved in a road traffic collision in 1987, in which he had lost the use of his legs.”