A widower died after suffering more than 50 per cent burns when he got into a hot bath at his Pinchbeck home, an inquest has found.
Retired factory worker Neville Walkley (76) died in hospital four days after he was found badly scalded at his home in Fennell Road by a carer who was due to take him shopping.
At an inquest in Boston on Friday, South Lincolnshire coroner Professor Robert Forrest recorded a verdict of accidental death on Mr Walkley who died at Nottingham City Hospital on January 15 after suffering multi-organ failure due to severe burns.
His carer, Mark Wood of Quadring, told the inquest that he had found Mr Walkley lying across a settee and wearing only boxer shorts, with blood on the carpet, kitchen and lounge floors.
Mr Wood said: “I saw that his legs were bright red and I knew something wasn’t right.
“The more I looked at Mr Walkley, the more I could see the injuries on his back and I just grabbed the phone and rang for an ambulance.”
Mr Walkley’s son, Philip, told the inquest that his father had been “profoundly deaf” since childhood and was diagnosed with vascular dementia in May 2012.
He added: “My mum Glenys died three years previously and since then, my dad had become increasingly confused to the extent that around about the spring before he died, he was found wandering about in his garden by a neighbour.”
After the inquest, Mr Walkley said: “We’re happy with the verdict, it’s the one we expected and it’s been a thorough examination of what took place.”