A BISHOP'S Waltham man who suffered a fatal brain injury after falling down his stairs had drunk enough to affect his coordination despite his high alcohol tolerance, an inquest has ruled.

Andy MacDonald, of Cherry Gardens, was found by his wife with a fractured skull on June 2, Winchester Coroner's Court was told.

The 54-year-old, a consultant analyst, was a regular drinker and had finished two beers, half a bottle of wine and a glass of diluted gin that evening, his wife, Julie, said.

Asked whether he normally drank that much, she said: "Not always the wine - if I wasn't drinking, he wouldn't have wine but that was pretty normal.

"He never drank during the day unless we were on holiday or days out."

Mrs MacDonald went to bed at around 10pm but was woken two hours later by what she described as a "really loud crash".

"I heard something fall down," she told the hearing on Thursday. "I thought it was a piece of furniture."

She got up to find Mr MacDonald unconscious at the foot of the stairs with a pool of blood by his head. She phoned an ambulance and he was rushed to Southampton General Hospital.

Brain scans revealed he had suffered a traumatic brain injury which he was unlikely to survive. Surgeons fitted a bolt in his left temple but he was declared dead on June 4.

It is unclear how he fell. Mr Short said it was "most likely" he fell from the landing whilst trying to switch the light off.

Tests taken on his hospital admission found a blood-alcohol level of 228mg per 100ml - nearly three times the drink-driving limit.

Senior central Hampshire coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "It seems from what his wife was saying today that he would drink regularly and he would have been able to tolerate higher levels.

"Nonetheless, it's my opinion that that [level] would have affected coordination, for example, even if it was someone who was used to drinking alcohol on a regular basis."