Archive - Thursday, 1 December 2005


Find by date

Other ways to search

Also look for

Never miss anything again. Sign up for our RSS news feeds and Newsletters.

Heavy drinker died after fall

A DEPRESSED Cotswolds businessman had drunk more than four times the legal driving limit when police found him dead at his home, an inquest heard.

Peter Russell Fyson, aged 74, of Oddfellows Terrace, Moreton, was found dead on June 3 this year having fallen downstairs and fractured his skull.

His wife Anne Fyson said that in the five years she had known him he had been a heavy drinker.

"Prior to meeting him he had a number of falls due to being drunk," she said.

Mrs Fyson, who lived at a separate address during the week, said that she phoned him 12 times on the day of his death and could not get a reply.

Concerned, she called police who went to his home and found him lying between the kitchen and the front room.

Pathologist Dr Nadir Hasan found the Mr Fyson had a blood/alcohol reading of 347mg per 100ml of blood, more than four times the legal driving limit.

Dr Hasan said that Mr Fyson had a five-centimetre graze to his forehead and a four-centimetre graze to his left hand, as well the fractured skull which killed him.

"Death was due to a fall from a height - the high blood-alcohol reading may be a factor in this case," he said.

Gloucestershire Coroner Alan Crickmore recorded a verdict of accidental death.

"The most likely explanation is that he was at the top of the stairs and while the worse for wear from drinking lost his balance and cracked his skull.

"That's what led to his death. This was a tragic accident."