A man died after suffering a heart attack and falling into his fireplace at his home in Inishowen on Christmas Eve last.
Stuart Scott, aged 61, had enjoyed a night out with his wife Ann and friends on the evening before at Simpson’s Bar in Carndonagh.
The well-known dairy farmer had decided to go home around 1am on December 24th, which was not unusual according to his wife.
An inquest into the late Mr Scott’s death was held at the Donegal Coroner’s Court held at Letterkenny Courthouse.
Mrs Ann Scott, the late Mr Scott’s wife told how she returned home to Tulnaree House in Carndonagh around 2am where she could see the fire roaring in the couple’s home.
She said her husband had a habit of stoking the fire and standing beside the mantlepiece with a drink in his hand watching television.
Earlier in the evening, a daughter of the couple, Jill Scott, had returned from a night out around 1am and had hugged her father and said goodnight to him.
Mrs Scott gave evidence that she could see her husband on the floor at a right angle to the fireplace and she said to him “what have you done now.”
She realised he had fallen into the fire and kicked off her shoes and pulled her husband away from the fire by his belt.
She said he felt stiff and she knew that he was gone.
She called the emergency services on her mobile phone and they arrived around 2.08 am.
Garda Ciaran McNicholas said he rushed to the scene but that the fire and ambulance services were already there.
He spoke to Mrs Scott and noticed that the late Mr Scott had burns to his chest, face and arm.
Nowdoc arrived and pronounced Mr Scott dead at 3.08am.
A post-mortem carried out on the victim at Letterkenny University Hospital showed that Mr Scott had heart disease as well as burns and a moderate level of alcohol in his system.
Coroner Dr Denis McCauley found that death was caused by a presumed cardiac arrhythmia from pre-existing heart disease.
He assured the Scott family that the late Mr Scott would have been dead before he fell into the fireplace and before he suffered the burns to his body.
He said he appreciated this was a very stressful time and offered his condolences to the Scott family as did Sgt Gerard Dalton.