A FAMILY have expressed their shock after a blind relative was founding hanged at his Ribchester home.

Kenneth Birkett, 59, of Church Street, had been blind and partially deaf for the past 17 years. He was found on Saturday afternoon by his sister, Maureen Charnley. It is suspected that Mr Birkett took his own life.

Mrs Charnley, 69, who lives with husband Bill, 78, in Jeffrey Avenue, Longridge, said the death of her brother had come as a total shock.

She became aware that something was wrong when she received a phone call at 3.15pm on Saturday from a Ribchester resident who said that Kenneth's milk bottles were still on the doorstep.

Mrs Charnley thought her brother might have been ill but on entering the house later that day she made the grim discovery.

She said: "I went down and he wasn't in the living room or in his work shop at the back. I was just going to shout upstairs and I opened stairway door and there was two feet hanging down.

"It was completely out of character, I never expected it. He was quite happy on Friday afternoon.

"I saw him on Wednesday and then he rung me on Thursday and he was alright.

"He rang my cousin on Friday and he was smashing, great. Well, we thought he was.

"He was totally blind but had a lot of interests. He was marvellous really but something has just given way and we don't know what."

Mr Charnley added: "He'd had 17 years in the dark but he was a marvellous lad."

Despite his lack of sight and deafness in one ear, Mr Birkett had clung to his independence and enjoyed drinking at White Bull pub opposite his house.

Mr Birkett did not let his disability stand in his way and was a skilled lathe operator, able to create all manner of wooden artefacts.

Mr Birkett, a member of Longton Car Club and motorcycle enthusiast, could also wind large lengths of towing rope on equipment he had in his shed in the back garden had also taught himself to play the organ.

Mrs Charnley said: "He did all his own cleaning and cooking and I took him shopping on a Wednesday. He was very independent and he liked to do things his own way.

"He used to go to the Ribchester Arms for his lunch every Friday and I said he was brave to go all that way when he couldn't see.

"I told him many times how marvellous I thought he was."

Ambulance and police crews arrived at the property on Church Street early on Saturday evening after an emergency call from Mrs Charnley. They do not believe the cause of death to be suspicious and an inquest is scheduled to open today.