A househusband who was found dead, face down in a puddle near his home, had drunk the equivalent of 17 pints of lager, a Winchester inquest heard.

Mid-Hants coroner, Graham Short, was told how 63-year-old George Conduct, of Northfields Farm Lane, Wickham, had not been a habitual drinker and had enjoyed two cans of lager with his wife, Eileen, before going for his usual late night walk with their dog on December 30th.

Mrs Conduct told the inquest: "The first thing that worried me was when the dog came back on her own. I looked around the lighted area of our house and called out to him, but there was no sign anywhere and so I rang my daughter who sent her husband, Neil out to help me look for him.

"It seemed like forever until he arrived. but it couldn't have been any more than 15 minutes until I saw him stop in the lane and shout at me to call an ambulance," she added.

Consultant pathologist at Winchester's Royal County Hospital, Dr Adnan Albadri, examined Mr Conduct and found a blood-alcohol level of 251 milligrams and a urine-alcohol level of 274 mgs.

He also found evidence of a mild heart attack in the past, which could have caused him to suffer a cardiac arrest when he fell into the puddle.

But Mr Conduct's wife refused to believe doctors had found that much alcohol in her husband's body: "There's no way he could have that amount in his system. Those tests must be wrong.

She explained her husband had not shown any signs of being drunk when she arrived home from work and did not drink during the day. Instead, the couple drank together in the evenings.

"I just feel that he has been treated as badly in his death as he was when he was alive by the health service," she added.

Dr Albadri told the court he had no reason to doubt the test results and said: "If I drank that amount, I would be dead. It is four times higher than the legal drink and drive limit.

He explained that some people had a higher tolerance to alcohol in their bloodstream because they were used to it, but said he would expect someone with those levels in their body to at least be unsteady on their feet.

Dr Albadri concluded that Mr Conduct had died asda result of alcohol abuse and ischaemic heart disease.

Before recording a verdict of accidental death, the coroner said: "There is little doubt that Mr Conduct was a regular drinker of alcohol.

"He had long-term heart disease and was therefore more prone to an attack. We have heard that he was home in the middle of the day and because of the levels of alcohol found in his blood and urine, he must have been drinking alcohol in the day.

"He was intoxicated, even though he wasn't showing any symptoms.No-one saw what happened and we don't know precisely how he came to be there."

The coroner said that on the balance of probability. he would have to conclude that Mr Conduct's death had been an accident.