A conclusion of accidental death was recorded on a former associate editor of the Daily Post who died in hospital following a fall at his home.

Robert Whiting – known as Bob – had worked as a sub editor and sports writer on the Daily Post and Echo in Liverpool before moving to Old Colwyn in 1980 when he became associate editor of the Daily Post in North Wales, whose offices were based in Mochdre.

He had a heart attack in 1983 and took early retirement in 1990, the Llandudno inquest heard, and he was described as “a proud and independent man.”

Mr Whiting, 86, a widower who lived in Bryn Avenue, Old Colwyn, died in Glan Clwyd Hospital last May eight days after being admitted following a fall.

Recording his conclusion coroner John Gittins said a post mortem examination by pathologist Dr Mark Atkinson found the cause of death a bleed on the brain as a result of a fall,combined with pneumonia.

There was also an ongoing cardiac condition.