A retired Evening Press seller was found dead in his York home from a ruptured spleen, an inquest heard.

York coroner Donald Coverdale recorded an open verdict on Richard John Jenkins, 67, of Hope Street, saying it was uncertain how the rupture was caused.

He said Mr Jenkins, who used to sell papers at the corner of Piccadilly in the city centre, was found dead on the floor of his bedroom on May 17.

A friend who was doing some decorating at his home, Norman Mill, told the inquest how he broke into the house when he was unable to rouse Mr Jenkins.

Mr Mill said Mr Jenkins had told him he suffered a blackout and fell while watching television at his home about three or four weeks before his death. He had said he had hurt himself in the fall.

In the last two weeks he had started vomiting. The inquest heard Mr Jenkins spent a day in York District Hospital due to chest pains a few days before his death, but Mr Mill said he did not seem better when he came out.

Dr Andrew Clarke, consultant pathologist at York District Hospital, said he did a post mortem on Mr Jenkins and found his spleen had ruptured leading to a haemorrhage.

"This rupture will have been the cause of death," said Dr Clarke.

But though the most common cause of a rupture was trauma to the part of the chest or abdomen over the spleen, he had found no sign of serious injury, such as bruising or evidence of fractures or skin lacerations.

Dr Clarke said it was extremely rare for the spleen to rupture spontaneously. It was possible there was an abnormality such as a cyst, or Mr Jenkins had suffered some trauma in the past which later led to bleeding and a rupture.

Mr Coverdale said he had obtained as much evidence as he could but there was still uncertainty about what caused the rupture. "Because of these uncertainties I feel I can only record an open verdict in this case," he said.

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