A RETIRED engineering teacher died more than two weeks after he went out on a heavy drinking session and swallowed six packets of paracetamol in a "moment of madness", an inquest heard.

Thomas Beard, aged 66, had been suffering from ulcers and liver damage when he consumed up to 48 pills in one night, causing serious damage to his internal organs.

In a report read out by coroner for the county Victor Round, Mr Beard's wife Patricia spoke of how her husband, who was a heavy drinker, went to the pub and did not get out of bed until about 8.30pm on Sunday, May 27. Mr Round said: "He had nothing to eat but he was not a big eater.

"His wife saw him going to the medicine cupboard but she didn't think much of that at the time and she went to bed about 11.30pm. The next morning she found empty paracetamol packets by the side of his bed. She asked if he had taken them and he said he had." That evening, Mrs Beard saw her husband heaving and being sick at their home at Lincomb Lock Caravan Park, Worcester Road, Stourport-on-Severn.

"He told her there was some blood with the sick but that was OK and he went to bed Monday night," said Mr Round.

"The following morning he said he felt rough and he allowed her to call a doctor which was unusual because he wouldn't normally let her do that." That day, Mr Beard was admitted to Worcester-shire Royal Hospital before he was moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birm-ingham on Wednesday, May 30. Mr Round said: "He was asked why he had taken the paracetamol and he said it was a moment of madness."

But more than two weeks after the incident, Mr Beard died in hospital.

Mr Round said the paracetamol overdose caused Mr Beard's intestines to bleed from gastritis and said alcoholic liver disease also contributed to his death.

Although he could not be certain of exactly how many pills Mr Beard had consumed, Mr Round said it would need to have been "considerable" to cause liver damage.

"In itself, Paracetamol is a very safe drug. It's one of the safest, but in an overdose, it can cause liver damage unless the effects are rapidly reversed," he said.

Mr Round recorded an open verdict because he did not know how drunk Mr Beard was on the night he took the pills and whether it was a genuine suicide attempt or not.