A KINGTON alcoholic who died after falling over a plant pot had decided he wanted to give up drinking, an inquest heard.

Dr Werner Dahlhaus said in a statement that when he visited Leslie Davies at home on June 18 last year the 50-year-old said he wanted to join a detoxification programme but knew he had to give up alcohol first.

“He still had the hope that he would be able to stop drinking,” Dr Dahlhaus said.

But just two days later the self-employed caterer fell over outside his house on Bridge Street and was admitted to Hereford County Hospital with a head injury.

He was helped to his feet by a neighbour but his wife Jennifer later came home to find him semi-conscious with blood on his mouth and called paramedics.

Pathologist Stephen Willis said Mr Davies developed acute bronchopneumonia and swelling around the brain after the fall and also had liver disease when he died on July 1.

Mrs Davies said in a statement that the couple had moved to Kington from Shropshire for a “new start” and opened a bakery shop.

But after they sold it in 2005 he was at home more and his drinking spiralled, she said, so that in the last six months of his life she began to find vodka bottles around the house as well as beer cans.

Dr Dahlhaus said Mr Davies, who had a history of depression and alcohol abuse, had previously been referred to the community mental health team and used alcohol when his symptoms escalated.

Deputy coroner Mark Bricknell recorded a verdict of accidental death and said: “”Sadly, Mr Davies has died relatively young.”