A GRANDFATHER died following a fall in his garden which caused a bleed on his brain, an inquest heard.

Ian Rudland Norrington was watering the plants in the backyard of his house in Merrytree Close, West Wellow, on September 21, last year.

His wife Shelia said she had returned from inside the home and “found him on his back in the back garden”.

An inquest into his death at Winchester Coroner’s Court was told that the 86-year-old, who formerly served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, was responsive but then he stopped answering questions.

The ambulance service was called, and Mr Norrington was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

Consultant neurosurgeon Jonathan Duffill said that the retired general manager at a dock company had suffered an acute subdural haematoma and it was decided to that an operation would not be in his best interest.

Mr Duffill added: “This was effectively a massive haemorrhage in a very elderly patient, and this was unsurvivable in my view.”

Mr Norrington’s family agreed, and he pronounced dead at 1.24am on September 22.

Mrs Norrington said her husband had fallen in the past and which left him “very unsteady”.

Senior coroner Christopher Wilkinson concluded that the death was accidental, adding: “I think it is more likely than not that he will have lost his balance and taken a tumble as result of being unsteady on his feet.

“Mr Norrington lived a full life not withstanding his ailments he was doing very well.”