A 53-YEAR-old man collapsed and died as he and his wife were walking to an all-night garage to buy cigarettes.

An inquest heard that, despite exhaustive tests, no specific reason had been found for the death of Alan Holt, 53, of Ribblesdale Avenue, Accrington.

Home Office pathologist Dr William Lawler, said that he had to admit that he had been unable to identify the cause of Mr Holt's death.

"As pathologists we come across cases like this from time to time and it beholds us to be honest and say that we do not know the answer," said Dr Lawler.

He said he could put forward to possible areas where the answer might lie, abnormalities of the rhythm of the heart or epilepsy but agreed with deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton that this was educated speculation.

The inquest heard that Mr Holt had been married to Lucia for 24 years.

Mrs Holt said that on the night of her husband's death they had gone to bed after a night in.

At 4.30am they decided to walk to the garage to get some cigarettes which she said was something they did when they could not sleep.

As they approached Queens Road, Mr Holt began to breathe heavily and started to stay from side to side.

He fell to the floor, pulling Mrs Holt with him, and she ran to a nearby phone and called an ambulance.

Paramedics, who arrived within five minutes, told Mrs Holt her husband was dead.

Recording a verdict of natural causes, Mrs Singleton said it was an unfortunate case where medical science is, for all its expertise, unable to answer the questions.