Telford widower lay at bottom of stairs for 40 hours, inquest told

James Stack, 60, of Madeley, had turned to alcohol after the death of his wife, Pamela, in February, the hearing in Wellington was told yesterday.

It was normal for Mr Stack, known as Jimmy, to be unconscious for days at a time, his friend Clive Corfield told Mr John Ellery, coroner for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.

Mr Corfield, who shared his home in Coronation Crescent with Mr Stack, said his friend had returned home from his local, the Barley Mow, in Court Street, at about 11.15pm on June 25.

"He was more intoxicated than I've ever seen him," said Mr Corfield.

Landlord of the pub Mark Whitefoot remembered how he made his regular drink a pint of water before he had fallen asleep at the bar.

"About 11 he was wobbling a bit and I said, 'Jim you ain't walking', so I took him home in the car," he said.

Mr Corfield went to make a drink and found Mr Stack lying in the foetal position at the bottom of the stairs just after midnight but had not heard him fall.

"I just thought he done the normal and just collapsed and he would be in bed when I got up in the morning or he would sleep through 36 hours which he had done before at the top of the stairs by his bedroom. He's done it two or three times," he said.

The next morning Mr Corfield found Mr Stack had not moved so shook him and spoke to him.

"He was mumbling back at me but the next day he didn't talk to me at all so I called an ambulance," he said.

Mr Stack was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital at about 6pm on June 27 but he died the next day.

A postmortem examination found he had died from a head injury.

Police were called to investigate the sudden death and Pc Daniel Taylor of West Mercia Police told the inquest: "Everything indicated that Mr Stack fell and there was no sign from the nature of his injuries of a violent attack of any nature."

Mr Ellery said: "The medical cause of death was a head injury due to a fall and I therefore record a verdict of accidental death."

"He would do anything for anybody," said Mr Corfield. "He was a really lovable man. He was so generous he bought everyone in the pub a drink."