A FORMER pub landlord died after falling down the stairs of his home, an inquest at Wrexham has heard.

Lee Pope, 58, of Box Lane, who had been the licensee at the Four Dogs Public House in Garden Village until last year, was found at the bottom of the stairs, behind the front door of his home on February 13, by members of the Welsh Ambulance Service.

Mr Pope, a keen rugby fan, hadn't been seen since Saturday, February 10 when he had been watching the England v Wales Six Nations match with his brother Russell at the Cunliffe Arms pub.

Pathologist Dr Mared Owen-Casey carried out a post-mortem which revealed Mr Pope had suffered a laceration to the top of his head and a fractured skull in the fall, but there were no other signs as to what may have caused him to fall down the stairs.

North East Wales Coroner John Gittens concluded that it was an accidental death caused by bleeding on the brain and a fractured skull as a result of the fall.

Mr Gittens added that because there were no witnesses, it was impossible to say exactly how or when Mr Pope had fallen.