AN EPILEPTIC man drowned after he had a fit in the bath, an inquest heard.

Damian Joseph Hill, of Cromer Grove, Burnley, was discovered face down in the water by his mother, Margaret.

The inquest heard how Mr Hill, 42, had chest and shoulder injuries consistent with trying to climb out of the bath.

Mr Hill, who was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of seven, also suffered from paralysis down his left side and hydrocephalus, or water on the brain.

He went to school in Harrogate for people with learning disabilities before settling in Burnley at the age of 22.

His mother told Burnley Coroner’s Court that he appeared ‘confused’ after an operation to insert a shunt to combat his hydrocephalus.

She said: “He had a happy life. He was always out and about. But after the operation his whole personality changed.”

She said that on the day of his death they had been shopping and discussed holidays. After they had both got ready for bed, Mrs Hill said she fell asleep on a sofa.

When she woke up, she noticed her son’s television was very loud and shouted up for him to turn it down. She went upstairs, only to discover him dead in the bath.

Mrs Hill said: “I told him all his life not to get in the bath on his own, or do anything dangerous.”

Dr Abdul Al-Dawoud, a pathologist, recorded the cause of death as a seizure-related drowning.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor said: “Drowning due to an epilepic fit is not a natural cause of death because the presence of water in the bath ended his life.