A MAN was found dead in his Winchester hotel room by his family after travelling to see a military parade his brother was taking part in, an inquest heard.

Patrick Reid Milligan, 19, had been at the Winchester Hotel in Worthy Lane, Hyde, with his family on the night of June 9-10 where he is thought to have suffer a seizure sometime between 11.30pm and 8.30am.

Winchester Coroners Court heard that although Mr Reid Milligan, who was a student living in Prodhoe, Northumberland, had not been diagnosed with epilepsy, he had suffered two seizure-like episodes in the year prior to his death, and had been referred to a ‘first seizure clinic’ by the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne.

PC Ben Vanes, the police officer who attended the scene, told the court that the family had left their rooms to have breakfast on the morning of June 10, but when Mr Reid Milligan didn’t arrive and was not answering his phone, they decided to check on him using their spare hotel room key.

“Hotel staff called an ambulance. Paramedics said there was nothing they could do to revive him,” added PC Vanes.

Dr Balvinder Shoker, a pathologist at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital who carried out the postmortem, was unable to record an exact cause of death, but added that the injuries found on Mr Reid Milligan’s body were “consistent with a fit”.

Recording a verdict of death by natural causes, senior coroner Grahame Short said: “Given the history, and on the balance of probability, I do believe it’s more likely than not that this was a epileptic-type seizure. It’s not possible to be certain.”

The family was in Winchester to attend a passing out parade of the Army Training Regiment at the Sir John Moore Barracks at Littleton.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Reid Milligan’s family wished to thank everyone who had helped them following his death, especially the Winchester Hotel staff who they said had gone “above and beyond”.