Magistrate (66) died after fall at home

Mr Michael Sagar (66) was found collapsed on the living room floor by his wife Colette Sagar on May 3rd this year in their home at Holden Farm, Todmorden Road, Briercliffe.

An inquest at Burnley Coroner’s Court heard that the couple had been to a party in Higham and had just returned home when Mr Sagar is believed to have fallen and banged his head.

Mrs Sagar said her husband went straight to bed and spent the next day dozing, but when he later became unwell an ambulance was called and he was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital where he sadly died on May 6th.

She said: “At the time of the accident we didn’t know he’d had a bad injury.

“He said his neck was hurting but he was moving his head. We still don’t know he fell, but he definitely didn’t fall down the stairs.

“He did have some problems with his knees in later years but was still a very fit man.”

Father-of-two Mr Sagar, who was well known as a chairman of the bench at Burnley Magistrates’s Court, had worked as a toolmaker apprentice in his younger years at Lucas before moving to Michelin.

He later worked at Training 2000 in Blackburn.

Colette, his wife of 36 years, said he enjoyed DIY, cycling, squash and cross-country running.

A post-mortem examination found that Mr Sagar had died from a cerebral haemorrhage.

East Lancashire Coroner Mr Richard Taylor recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

He said: “It seems to me that Mr Sagar had had some drinks and overbalanced causing him to fall and bang his head.”