A RETIRED engineer died after he fell off a ladder while carrying out repairs at his new home, an inquest has heard.

Father-of-one William Halstead, 68, was working on the bungalow in Radcliffe Court, Rosegrove, on June 7 this year when he lost his balance and hit his head off the ground in front of his wife, Margaret.

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He was rushed to Royal Blackburn Hospital and transferred to Royal Preston Hospital where he underwent surgery, but died from his injuries seven days later.

Mrs Halstead explained to East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor how her husband had been a mechanical engineer at E Sutton and Son shoe manufacturers in Bacup for 45 years until his retirement at the age of 60.

The couple, of Heathbourne Road, Stacksteads, purchased the property in Burnley last December and started renovating it in April, a task which Mr Halstead considered ‘his job’, the inquest heard.

In a statement to the coroner’s officer, Mrs Halstead said her husband has fallen off a step-ladder the week before he died.

She said: “He was up a set of ladders, with the top half of his body in the loft space. He usually had the ladders on metal but they were on a dust sheet this time.

“He seemed to stretch into the loft space, and as he did that, the ladders slipped from underneath him, which caused him to fall and his head hit the toolbox.”

A CT scan showed bleeding between the brain and skull, which was also fractured.

Mr Halstead was kept in for observations but developed concussions and swelling to the brain, which eased after surgery on June 12. However, two days later, he had a cardiac arrest and died.

Dr Emma Watts, who carried out a post-mortem examination on Mr Halstead, gave the medical cause of death as bleeding on the brain tissue caused by brain trauma.

Recording a conclusion of accidental death, Mr Taylor said: “Mr Halstead was clearly a talented, hard-working man who enjoyed retirement. This was a cruel accident.”