THE county’s senior coroner has called for a report into the failings of addiction services after a Winchester man fell to his death from a window at his city-centre flat.

Dr Nigel Malloy died from severe traumatic head injuries after plummeting head-first from his second-storey flat in Southgate Street, an inquest heard. The 56-year-old had a long history of alcohol misuse and depression.

Winchester Coroner’s Court heard how the retired GP had become addicted to painkillers, which were prescribed to him by a doctor in Northern Ireland for chest pains.

Mr Malloy, who had previously run a practice in Manchester, had moved to Bangor to help look after his elderly mother.

His niece Gilly Jones said she believed Mr Malloy blamed himself for his mother’s death and that he used alcohol to numb his chest pains and “grief”.

The court heard how his sister brought him to live with her in Winchester after finding suitcases full of empty spirit bottles in his Bangor home.

In a previous incident in May 2016, Dr Malloy fell out of the first-floor window of his sister’s home, causing severe head injuries, after being left home alone for four days.

Ms Jones said that she had found several large bottles of spirits in the property following the incident, as well as parcels of painkillers.

Mr Malloy had been refereed to the Inclusion service for his alcohol dependency, but his family have slammed the slammed the service as ‘not fit for purpose’.

Ms Jones said: “If the NHS and Inclusion had fulfilled their roles, Nigel would be alive and well today. In the alternative, if Inclusion’s role is not as the NHS believes, then there is a critical services gap meaning that the government, NHS and secretary of state for heath fail to comply with requirements.”

Senior coroner Grahame Short said that he could not know how Mr Malloy came to fall out of the window, but that he did know Mr Malloy was intoxicated at the time and that the previous incident indicated a pattern of behaviour.

Mr Short recorded a narrative conclusion that Mr Malloy died after a fall from height in circumstances that can not be confirmed. Mr Short ordered a prevention of future death report as he agreed with the family that opportunities to intervene, and provide care and support to Mr Malloy had been missed.

The Chronicle has reached out to Hampshire Hospitals Trust and Inclusion for comment.