A CORONER has concluded that Hartlepool man Edgar Shepherd died of natural causes following a year-long investigation.

Mr Shepherd, of Mullroy Road, died on February 9 last year, three days after he was admitted to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

The Teesside inquest heard he had a successful operation for bladder cancer about a month before he died. He returned home after surgery, but began to suffer from nausea.

He later died in hospital of a massive cerebral infarction, a condition where the supply of blood to the brain is blocked.

Recording a verdict of natural death, the coroner said he believed the events were not linked.