A PENSIONER killed himself by taking a fatal overdose of over-the-counter painkillers.

John Williams, of High Street, Blaenau Ffestiniog, was found dead at his home on Friday, 17 July and a postmortem examination later showed he had overdosed on paracetamol and codeine, possibly as a result of taking co-codamol tablets.

The 71-year-old had been in poor health for a number of years and suffered greatly with pain after being burnt following a fire at his home.

He had also battled cancer of the oesophagus and suffered with coeliac disease.

An inquest into Mr Williams’ death at Caernarfon on Wednesday heard how persistent illness and pain had caused the retired construction contractor great distress and misery.

“He couldn’t eat and suffered with pain,” his wife Glenys Williams said in a statement to the court.

“He was on a lot of medication in his later years.”

Mrs Williams last saw her husband on the evening of Thursday, 16 July and, when she went to bed, he was in a separate bedroom listening to music.

When she went into the room the next morning, she discovered Mr Williams was dead on the floor.

A bottle of morphine was found in the 71-year-old’s hand, but it is not thought he had taken any of that medication.

“He became frustrated with his inability to do things and with his loss of independence,” Mrs Williams said.

Giving evidence at the inquest, pathologist Dr Mark Lord told the coroner that his colleague Mared Owen-Casey had conducted a postmortem examination on Mr Williams.

Toxicology tests revealed that the pensioner’s blood contained paracetamol and codeine. There were also traces of alcohol and temazepam.

Dr Lord said Mr Williams may have overdosed on co-codamol.

“He said: “This is a significant overdose of the drugs.

“It’s very difficult to imagine how this amount could have been taken by accident.”

Recording a narrative verdict equivalent to suicide, coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones said he was satisfied that Mr Williams had intended to end his own life.

He said: “John Williams had been unwell.

“He had been involved in a fire and was still suffering the effects of burns.

“His widow has explained that he was feeling very low and toxicology shows he had taken quite a large amount of tablets, probably co-codamol.”

The coroner continued: “This is not a case of someone having taken one or two tablets too many.

“He died as a result of his own actions.”

The cause of death was given as paracetamol and codeine toxicity.