Verdict over barbecue skewer death

Peter Ince, of Much Wenlock, told an inquest in Dudley that he had discovered his father, Leslie Ince, in a cupboard with the injury at the pensioner's Walsall home.

He said his initial impressions upon seeing his father slumped in the understairs cupboard, where he had been for three days, was that he had suffered a stroke.

A murder inquiry was launched and the suspected attack sparked a high-profile investigation with detectives appearing on Crimewatch in a bid to trace the killer, the inquest heard.

But the two-year investigation was halted after a pathologist said he believed the 80-year-old man had impaled himself in a tragic accident.

Today Dr Allen Anscombe told the inquest his investigations concluded the pensioner had suffered a stroke and suffered the injury in a state of confusion.

Recording an open verdict, coroner Robin Balmain sitting at Dudley Coroner's Court this afternoon said: "The accident theory is simply a theory and cannot be backed up conclusively by any other evidence."

Mr Ince said he had been due to take his father to hospital for a heart operation on the day in question. His father's shoes had been just a couple of inches from the inside of the front door when police forced entry.

He told the inquest it would have been difficult for anyone to have left the shoes in that position before letting themselves out.

The inquest heard Mr Ince normally kept his home tidy but that it was in a "state of disarray" when the police broke in and the phone was off the hook.

Pathologist Dr Anscombe said: "I believe this was purely an accident. I think he had a stroke, became confused and began crawling around the home in a state of confusion.

"It is possible that as he crawled into the cupboard he then impaled himself on the barbecue skewer."

A post-mortem report revealed that Mr Ince died of multi-organ failure with the barbecue skewer injury a direct cause.

By Sophie Bignall