THE death of a resident at a Monmouthshire care home has been ruled as natural causes by the senior coroner for Gwent.

Wendy James recorded the verdict at the inquest of Damian Lee Bailey, 25, on Thursday, February 22 at Newport Coroner’s Court.

The inquest heard that Mr Bailey was a resident at the Ty Gwyn Hall home in Llantilio Pertholey, Abergavenny and died on March 27 of last year.

Mr Bailey was described as a “complex and vulnerable individual” and took medication for a range of conditions, including paranoid schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the inquest heard.

Shaun Cooper, the hospital director, provided documentary evidence into the time before Mr Bailey’s death.

“He was seen up at around 7.50am, having a cigarette,” said Mr Cooper, adding the 25-year-old was in “good humour” and “positive behaviour”.

Mr Cooper added that Mr Bailey was later witnessed to be listening to music and then asleep in his bedroom.

At 11.40am, the inquest heard, an alarm was raised during the hourly check-up on Mr Bailey.

“He was unresponsive on his bed,” said Mr Cooper, “he was blue/purple in colour with vomit around his mouth.”

PC David Walters, an officer with Gwent Police, added in documentary evidence that he could see “vomit down the sides of the bed and on the bedsheets”.

A post-mortem examination, conducted by Dr James Harrison, a pathologist at the Royal Gwent Hospital, said the likely cause of death was cardiomyopathy, the inquest heard.

Miss James recorded the death as natural cause, linked to cardiomyopathy.