A retired chiropractor died after a large piece of food got stuck in his throat an inquest in Salisbury has heard.

Christopher Jonathan Derek Richardson, 63, was found by his daughter Marcia Richardson on his kitchen floor on Tuesday, December 20 last year.

She had gone round to his house after becoming concerned about the lack of contact from him during the preceding three days.

Wiltshire and Swindon area coroner Ian Singleton heard that Mr Richardson was a divorced man who lived alone in Pound Street, Warminster.

On Friday, December 16 he told Miss Richardson in a telephone call that he had fallen off his mountain bike and had banged his head despite wearing his helmet but she said he would not go to hospital for a check-up.

But the coroner said Mr Richardson’s death was “something of a mystery” as there was no suggestion he had suffered any injury from the fall.

Miss Richardson told Tuesday's inquest she had expected her father to visit her on Sunday, December 18 but he didn’t show up.

On Monday, December 19, she messaged him several times but didn’t get any response so she decided to visit him the next day.

When she went round to his house, she saw his mountain bike outside and thought that he might be asleep upstairs.

She went away to do some shopping but later returned and still didn’t gain any response so she decided to ask the next-door neighbour for a key to his home.

When she went inside her father on the kitchen floor and saw that his hand was blue.

She called for an ambulance at 4pm, and when he arrived at 4.25pm paramedic Matthew Jones confirmed that Mr Richardson was dead.

Police found there were no suspicious circumstances or third-party involvement in his death.

The next-door neighbour had seen him on December 20 and he had transferred money from his bank account on the same day, the inquest was told.

Mr Singleton said: “It is a somewhat strange case. It is something of a mystery about what happened. There is no suggestion that he had a fall.”

The coroner concluded that Mr Richardson’s death was accidental, saying it had been caused by a large piece of food being stuck in his throat and him not being able to dislodge it.