A MAN fell into the Kennet and Avon Canal and died after a blackout brought on by injuries sustained in a car accident 15 years ago, an inquest heard.

David Mee lived on a canal barge called Freedom, based at the Foxhangers Marina, Devizes, with his wife Alison.

On February 27 Mr Mee, 35, fell into the canal and drowned. At an inquest on June 28, Wiltshire coroner David Masters recorded a verdict of accidental death after evidence showed the blackout had been caused by serious damage caused to his heart and brain in 1985.

A car accident had left him in a coma for two weeks, but he had made a good recovery.

Mrs Mee explained how her husband had not been well since October. He heard voices and saw faces that weren't actually there, she said.

He had been complaining of blackouts but did not see a doctor for several weeks. He also had a long history of hallucinations and suffered from depression for which he was prescribed tablets.

Pathologist Dr Clare Fuller discovered serious damage to his heart and brain which had been left by the accident 15 years ago. She said two areas of Mr Mee's brain were so badly damaged they had died.

Mr Masters concluded that the road accident and the drowning were related. The blackout was brought on either by a kind of epilepsy or an irregular heartbeat.

He said he could not call the death a natural one because it was obviously an accident.