A HAMPSHIRE man died after a fall at his home an inquest heard.

Winchester Coroners Court heard how Simon Silk, 58, from Court Farm in Lippen Cottages in West Meon, was a regular drinker who refused to get help for his alcoholism according to his wife Rosemary Silk.

She told the hearing he was an alcoholic who drank one to four bottles of wine each day and suffered falls when he drank to excess.

The inquest was told how Mr Silk was drinking heavily on June 3 and fell on the floor but Mrs Silk assumed he was in a drunken sleep, and later called on the help of a relative and a farm worker to lift him into bed.

She then went to the pub and came back home to check on him, before gardening. She returned to see he was looking ‘grey’ and called the emergency services but paramedics were unable to revive him.

A report from a PC Simon Chapman from Fareham Police Station, who arrived at the house after reports of a sudden death, said he seized three empty wine bottles from the front room.

Pathologist Dr Burnley from Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester carried out a post mortem which revealed Mr Silk suffered a head injury.

A toxicology test done by Hampshire Scientific Services revealed he was more than four times over the drink drive limit.

Coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death.