A MAN suffered fatal head injuries after falling down a flight of stairs following a row with his father, an inquest was told.

Alex Henson, 27, died days after the fall at his father’s house on Boxing Day 2011.

His father Allan Henson was arrested along with his wife Dawn but Detective Chief Inspector John Dwyer told the inquest the Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone.

Mr Henson said his son, from Gateshead, was kneeling at the top of the stairs to tie his shoelaces before suddenly lunging upwards, then falling backwards down the stairs, his arms outstretched.

“I think he was turning towards me,” he told the York inquest.“Whether he lost his footing or he tripped I don’t know.”

He ended on his back with his head on the hall doormat of the house in Nether Poppleton, York.

The inquest heard that a paramedic had reported hearing Allan Henson say: “He was trying to touch my wife and I was just getting him off.”

But he denied ever mentioning this, saying his son would never touch his stepmother, suggesting the paramedic had misheard or had made up the comment.

Allan Henson said his son, who he had brought to Nether Poppleton on Boxing Day, had drunk a bottle and a a half of wine and also a rum and coke.

He said he had also consumed a bottle of wine but described himself as calm.

He added that his son had argued with him, accusing him of hitting him when he was young before making a screeching noise which had woken his wife, Dawn.

In a statement, a neighbour described hearing a very heated argument from the Henson’s house, with someone shouting: “I hate you”, and someone shouting: “I hate you too”. He also heard a thumping sound.

Steve Aston said his friend Alex Henson had phoned him in a tearful and distressed state, saying his father wanted him out of the house.

A post-mortem found Mr Henson suffered fractures to his skull.

Acting senior coroner for York Jonathan Leach recorded a narrative verdict that after an argument had broken out between Alex and his father, he had been asked to leave, they had both gone upstairs and then he had come down the stairs backwards and sustained head injuries.