Patrick Pease’s daughter has paid tribute to the 83-year-old Parish councillor who died earlier this year after hitting his head and falling down the stairs.

Lucy Harvey described her father, who was a former Marlborough parish councillor and retired operations director for The Bruce Boats, as being “integral to village life.”

“My father moved to Marlborough many years ago,” Lucy Harvey explained in a statement put to the coroner's court.

“He was a great chatter and liked being around people. He had lots of friends in the village, and it was not uncommon for him to stay with them.”

In an inquest held on Thursday, October 5, 2023 it was concluded that Patrick Pease, born on October 8, 1940, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, died after falling down the stairs at Folly Farm, Shalbourne, near Marlborough.

He sustained major trauma to the back of his head on the evening of February 28, 2023, while he was staying over with a friend, Henry Titley.

HM Area Coroner, Ian Singleton, concluded that: “After consuming a modest amount of alcohol, Patrick went to lay down in an upstairs bedroom, saying that he felt unwell. He was then later found on the stairs with a traumatic head injury.

“It is not possible to say whether he had fallen down the stairs or whether a medical issue lead to his fall and further injury.”

Mr Pease had a prior diagnosis of hypertension and Type 2 diabetes, which pathologists believe could have possibly contributed to the fall.

In her statement, Lucy Harvey also noted that her father, who lived in a bungalow at Foxbury Place in Great Bedwin, Marlborough, had very limited eyesight and would “really struggle with stairs.”

“He needed two hands to pull himself up by the bannister and he would avoid using stairs wherever he could," she said.

Patrick’s wife Sally Pease, and son Charles, were also in attendance at the inquest but did not give a statement.

Mr Pease's body was found by his friend Henry Titley, whose house he had been visiting that night.

Detective Constable Helen Karric from Swindon Police told the coroner's court:

“Mr Titley drove him to Folly Farm, and we know they were at this farm by 6:30pm. Henry had planned to cook dinner for them that evening: potatoes and lamp chops. Not long after they arrived, Patrick said that he wasn’t feeling well.

"Both Mr Pease and Henry Titley went to lie down and then Henry thinks he woke up at around 22.15pm but said he had not heard anything."

She recalls that the pair had been friends for about four or five months, and would regularly meet for drinks at the farmhouse.

Detective Constable Kathy Byers noted when she arrived at the property, she heard an intoxicated and upset Henry telling paramedics, "I should’ve heard him fall but I didn’t."