INVESTIGATIONS have been reopened into a brawl which could have led to the death of a Nelson man -- nearly 12 months after the incident.

An inquest was adjourned after evidence was given that a fatal head injury to David Jackson, 37, could have been caused in a street fight.

Nelson man Hughie Morrisey, 34, has been charged with assaulting Mr Jackson of Edward Street, Nelson, in July last year. East Lancashire Coroner David Smith adjourned the verdict to allow police and Crown Prosecution Service to review the case.

They needed to decide whether the assault charge remained or was substituted with a different charge.

The inquest heard that Mr Jackson was punched, kicked and knocked unconscious in an incident in Leeds Road, Nelson, at about midnight on the morning of July 3.

After he received treatment at Burnley General Hospital police were called to take him away because he was allegedly being disruptive.

Despite being unable to stand and described by one officer as being barely conscious he was taken home and left alone in soiled clothing on the floor of his living room. Neighbours called police the next day when he was found covered with bruises. Paramedic Bob Yurek said he thought he had been subjected to a "good kicking" and described one injury as being like the heel mark of a shoe on his chest.

Those injuries, the hearing was told, had not been present when he first attended the hospital. Mr Jackson was taken back to Burnley hospital and then transferred to the Royal Preston Hospital where he underwent surgery to remove blood from inside his skull. He died four days later.

Home Office pathologist Dr William Lawler gave cause of death as a head injury and said the other injuries he found 29 separate substantial or trivial injuries on Mr Jackson's body, did not directly contribute to his death.

He could not say when each injury was caused. There was good evidence that Mr Jackson was unconscious when first found. His conscious level first improved and then declined.

"The type of head injury which I saw is compatible with that time sequence," he said, adding: "It is at least possible that what I saw as being responsible for his death could have come in that incident in the very early hours of July 3."

After the adjournment Mr Jackson's brother, Michael of Francis Street, Burnley, said he did not want to comment until the proceedings were completed.

Nurse Zinoida Earnshaw said on the first occasion Mr Jackson was being awkward and they could not get any information from him. After he had received treatment, the only injury she could see was a cut lip, she was asked to contact police to ask their help in tracing his relatives. The Coroner produced a transcript of her call in which she asked police to escort someone from the premises who had come in drunk. Mr Jackson was taken home in the back of a police van.

He could not stand unaided and had to be carried into the vehicle. PC Paul Ogden described him as being slumped in a wheelchair and barely conscious. PC Roger Crew helped Mr Jackson into his house where he was left curled up in the recovery position on the lounge floor.

Mr Smith commented: "I cannot understand why you did not take him back to the hospital, ask for an ambulance or report it to your supervisor." PC Crew said he had dealt with many people who were drunk and he saw nothing wrong in him sobering up under his own steam. He had been told Mr Jackson lived with his girlfriend. He knew he had received treatment at hospital and they had asked police to take him home.