A BOLTON coroner concluded that a former coal miner died of natural causes.

Thomas Stockton, of Crawford Avenue, Tyldesley, died in the Royal Bolton Hospital on April 29, aged 82.

An inquest in Bolton yesterday heard how he was known to suffer from chronic bronchitis and diabetes.

He had worked on the surface of coal mines since the age of 14, breaking only to serve in the Army during the Second World War.

A post mortem found the cause of death was pneumonia. A pathologist said his condition was more likely to have been caused by a general dusty atmosphere, smoking or asthma rather than industrial disease. Coroner Jennifer Leeming concluded that Mr Stockton died of natural causes.