AN INQUEST has opened into the death of a retired lorry driver who died after inhaling "foreign materials".

Stanley Goddard, 87, of Oak Alyn care home in Cefn-y-Bedd, died on February 15 at the A+E department of Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

At a brief hearing in Ruthin, John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, said that a post mortem conducted following Mr Goddard's death found the provisional cause of death to be respiratory failure.

The inquest heard that the respiratory failure was partly caused by Mr Goddard's inhalation of "foreign materials" - which will investigated further at a full inquest at a date to be fixed.