A SON has spoken of his grief after an inquest said neglect was partly responsible for the death of his father, Arthur Horrod.

John Horrod, from Calne, said his 76-year-old father was a simple caring man who used to look forward to seeing him each day.

Mr Horrod, who was a resident at Calne's Dunstan House Nursing Home, was found to have bedsores as deep as a 50p piece when he died at Chippenham Hospital on November 6 last year.

Returning its verdict at an inquest in Chippenham on Monday, a jury decided he had died from natural causes and "the cause of death was contributed to by neglect".

Mr Horrod said he would be pursuing a private prosecution against the owners of the care home, John and Margaret O'Dea, for damages following his father's death.

Mr Horrod, 50, whose mother Phyllis died of cancer in 1992, lived at home with his father at Winter's Court, Corsham. His father, a retired Westinghouse machinist who weighed about 17 stone, moved into Dunstan House after suffering a stroke in October 1999.

"At first I was happy, everything seemed okay, I would go after work each day and spend an hour and a half with him," said Mr Horrod.

He said his father became increasingly immobile and withdrawn, but he was not aware how bad the bed sores were.

Mr Horrod married his wife Diana on November 4, two days before his father died. "We brought the date forward because I knew he was bad and we were hoping he could make it, even if he was in a wheelchair," said Mr Horrod.

"We were on honeymoon in Blackpool when I was called to tell me of my father's death. It was a shock, to say the least."