Glastonbury sporting stalwart Mike Sadler died after a condition related to his dementia caused him to choke on a sandwich, an inquest heard today (July 29).

Senior Somerset coroner Tony Williams concluded the inquest with the ruling that Mr Sadler suffered an accidental death on July 13 at his home in Norbins Road, Glastonbury.

Mr Sadler was well known in the Glastonbury sporting scene, being involved with Glastonbury Football Club for more than 50 years, and being scorer for Glastonbury Cricket Club in the 1980s and 90s.

The inquest heard that Mr Sadler, who worked as a motor distributor storeman before his retirement, had a full-time live-in carer, Nicolas Tsoumanis, with him at his home, and on July 13, Mr Tsoumanis gave Mr Sadler a sandwich before going into another room to make a coffee.

He heard Mr Sadler choking and quickly went back into the room to try and stop this from happening, but he wasn't able to and called the emergency services, who were unable to revive Mr Sadler after an hour of trying.

Mr Sadler had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease with dementia in 2018, which had side effects of changing his behaviour and removing his ability to stop eating.

In a statement, his sister Janice White said that Mr Sadler suffered from gluttony due to his condition and wanted to eat as fast as possible.

She was full of praise for Mr Tsoumanis, saying his care for Mr Sadler had been incredible, particularly during the coronavirus crisis, and that he had successfully prevented two other choking incidents in the previous month before Mr Sadler's death.

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The coroner Mr Williams agreed with the post mortem cause of death from pathologist Dr Mukonoweshuro from Bath Royal United Hospital, that Mr Sadler died from an airways obstruction due to food material, and dementia with calcific aortic valve stenosis, which is a disorder that affects the heart.

In recording the verdict of accidental death Mr Williams said that, due to Mr Sadler's dementia condition, Mr Sadler fatally choked with eating a sandwich.