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THE widow of a 68-year-old found with serious head injuries at home will never know what caused her husband to fall down stairs.

Alan Wheatley was pronounced dead at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire hours after he was found at his Birches Head home at around 5.45am on March 6.

North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith yesterday recorded a verdict of accidental death due to severe head injuries.

But Mr Smith told Mr Wheatley's relatives that the cause of the fall would remain a mystery.

An inquest yesterday heard how Mr Wheatley had been unable to work since the late 1980s after he tore ligaments in his back while lifting carpets at work.

Son Paul, who lives in nearby Chorlton Road, told the inquest: "When he was working he was lifting carpet.

"There were meant to be six of them doing the lifting but instead there was only three of them.

"He tore ligaments in his back and that stopped him returning to work."

The inquest heard Mr Wheatley, who also suffered from an inflamed vertebrae and arthritis in his hands, arms and legs, had also fallen at home a few years later and broken his toe.

Mr Wheatley was found seriously injured on March 6 in his dressing gown and pyjamas at the bottom of the stairs at the Eros Crescent home where he lived with wife Jennifer.

He had also been complaining of headaches in the months leading to his death.

Paul Wheatley added: "As far as I'm aware he never regained consciousness from the minute he fell down the stairs to when he died at hospital."

Widow Mrs Wheatley said: "Alan's legs were a bit up the stairs, he was just in an awkward position. He was making a strange noise in his throat."

The inquest heard that Mr Wheatley had suffered from a heart attack at least three months before his death.

In his medical report, pathologist Dr Mark Rogerson said: "It's possible that a cardiac event caused Mr Wheatley to fall downstairs.

"But it's much more likely he died from the head injuries rather than the cardiac event."

The inquest heard that Mr Wheatley had trained as a mechanic after leaving school and later became a lorry driver delivering furniture before becoming a salesman.

He said: "This could have been a simple trip or fall. We will never know.

"On the balance of probabilities it was an accident.

"It could have been a fall, whether he tripped, fainted or had a heart attack at that precise moment we don't know.

"The one person who might know isn't here."