BURNS found on the body of a disabled Chirk man were probably caused when he collapsed against the wing of his car on a very hot day, an inquest heard.

Doctors in Wrexham Maelor Hospital where John Dutton was taken and specialists in the burns unit at Whiston Hospital were puzzled by the burns down his left torso and thigh.

And although a battery charger was lying nearby connected to the car he had been working on Home Office pathologist Dr Bryan Rogers told an inquest in Ruthin that the burns were not caused by acid or electrocution.

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Mr Dutton, 71, of The Bungalow, Halton, was found slumped on the seat of his walking aid alongside his car by Nicholas Pearce as he walked to work in McDonalds on July 17, 2021.

Mr Pearce's boss Richard Monaghan carried out CPR until paramedics arrived and took Mr Dutton to hospital, where he died three days later.

Mr Dutton's wife Lorraine told the inquest that he suffered from spondylitis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, having been a very heavy smoker, sometimes spending up to £200 a week on cigarettes.

Dr Rogers gave the cause of death as cardiac failure and COPD, with superficial burns and heatstroke as contributory factors.

The probable scenario, he said, was that Mr Dutton, a former factory worker, had suffered a medical episode while working on his car, the bonnet of which was open, and then slumped against the hot bodywork before managing to stagger back to his walking aid.

"He must have been in that position for some time," he said.

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The burns could have been caused through his thin clothing, he added.

The inquest heard that the temperature that day was 25 degrees and that Mr Dutton's temperature on arrival in hospital was very high.

"There is no doubt that he had heatstroke," said Dr Rogers.

"People with heart and lung problems are susceptible to heatstroke."

Recording a narrative conclusion, Kate Sutherland, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central said that death was due to natural causes contributed to by burns and heatstroke.