A FORMER Royal Navy firefighter and retired nightwatchman who had chronic back and neck pain died from misadventure after taking excessive medication, a coroner has ruled.

Steven Deen Williams died at his home address on Droomer Drive in Windermere on March 23 2023 at the age of 67.

The Coroners Court at Cockermouth heard he had been diagnosed with diabetes, hypertensive heart disease, spinal spondylitis and arthritis which affected his mobility.

He had been in significant pain from his back and neck for months but particularly so in the days leading up to his death, the court heard.

In a statement read out to the court, his wife Sarah Williams said: “Two days before his death I found him crawling on the floor in the hallway in order to reach the bathroom.

“He said he was in so much pain that he could not stand upright. His presentation that day was the worst I have ever seen him.”

The court heard that Mrs Williams checked up her husband in the early hours of the morning on March 23 when she went to the toilet and found him to be lying on his back.

However, when she went into the room the next day at 2.45 PM, she found him to be unresponsive.

“I started CPR on the advice of the 999 call handler,” she said. 

“Paramedics arrived but after a short while. They informed me that he had passed away.

“He never gave any indication that he was thinking of self-harming or suicide, and he had no history of anything of this nature.

The inquest heard that Mr Williams had served as a firefighter for over 17 years in the Royal Navy when he was 18 helping in the Falklands and Northern Ireland.

Recording a death of opioid toxicity as a result of misadventure, Coroner Margaret Taylor said: “Steven had been taking very large quantities of codeine and that can explain some of the findings.

“There is however a suggestion that additional medication may have been taken to deal with the pain he was experiencing.

“Unexpectedly this has had the effect of depressing the central nervous system and has ultimately led directly to his death.

“I express my condolences to the family.”