A MAN with a history of alcohol abuse died of natural causes, an inquest heard.

Alan Troughear, 61, of Abbott Meadow, Penwortham, Preston, was found dead at his home on November 10, last year.

His daughter Helen Garth, of Greencroft, Penwortham, told Preston Coroner's Court she visited her father in the afternoon of November 10, and found him sitting on the lounge floor with a cut above his eye.

She said: "At first I thought he had blacked out. There was a blood-stained towel nearby so I went for a neighbour who called an ambulance.

"The paramedics told me he had died."

The court heard that Mr Troughear had suffered alcohol problems for many years and had physically deteriorated.

Weeks before his death he was admitted to the Royal Preston Hospital with a shoulder injury after falling due to a black-out.

PC Brown added: "There was a lot of spirit bottles on the side and a bowl of water which looked as though it had blood mixed in, as though a blood-stained cloth had been rinsed out.

"It is my belief that he hit himself somewhere in the house and was walking about. His GP also confirmed this."

Home Office pathologist Dr Alan Williams told the court Mr Troughear had a minor laceration to the eye but had died from pneumonia.

County coroner Howard McCann recorded a verdict of natural causes.

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