Retired market gardener Roger Hayward has been described as a loss to everyone after a coroner ruled his death was a result of natural causes.

Originally it was thought the 71-year-old grandfather-of-three from Bremhill had been electrocuted as he tried to move a fallen tree, which had also brought down power cables.

But Ian Singleton, assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, concluded on Tuesday that it was a heart-related illness that led to Mr Hayward’s death on February 12.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Hayward’s widow, Celia Hayward, 69, said: “He is a loss to everyone really; he never had a bad word to say about anyone, ever. He would help anybody.

“He was a good one, it’s just unfortunate.

“I never thought he had been electrocuted, everybody knows cables are dangerous – he wasn’t daft. There was no power going through them.”

The inquest heard that Mr Hayward left for the shops following a power cut at his home.

After finding a tree across the road, Mr Hayward returned home to pick up a chainsaw to remove the obstruction.

PCSO Mark Cook, of Calne Police, attended the incident following a call at 3.20pm and told the inquest Mr Hayward was found on his back.

He said: “As we went toward the location we were told several times not to, under any circumstances, approach the male due to the possibility of live electrical cables.”

Salisbury Coroner’s Court heard that paramedics were only able to attend to Mr Hayward 40 minutes after their arrival, when the electricity board had confirmed the power was off.

Due to the lengthy period of time that Mr Hayward had been lifeless on the road, resuscitation was not attempted and he was pronounced dead at 4.05pm.

John Steed, HM principal specialist inspector for Electrical Networks, told the inquest that the cables had been stretched to breaking point under the weight of the tree.

But Mr Steed said records from Scottish and Southern Energy showed that, due to a blown fuse, the conductors had been off since before 3pm and there was no power in them.

Mr Hayward, who had high blood pressure, had died from ischemic heart disease and pulmonary artery atherosclerosis, a postmortem examination found.