A MAN who had struggled with alcoholism was found dead by a stream in a village in Conwy, an inquest heard.

Richard David John Jasper died aged 40 in Betws-yn-Rhos on February 26.

At a full inquest into his death, held in Ruthin today (October 10), Kate Robertson, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, recorded a conclusion of an alcohol-related death.

His medical cause of death was given as acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) due to left ventricular hypertrophy, contributed to by hypothermia and alcohol toxicity.

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The inquest heard that Mr Jasper, born in Southport, was a single father-of-two who owned his own timber company, was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and later with bladder cancer.

He met his partner in Liverpool, had two children with her, and they lived together for about five years.

But after the end of their relationship, which Mr Jasper’s father, David, described as “stormy”, he was said to have been “slowly deteriorating, and drinking more”.

“All we wanted was for him to stop drinking and move forward with his life,” David Jasper said.

Mr Jasper had been charged with drink-driving in 2022, and had to agreed to counselling for his addiction, as well as being prescribed antidepressants.

On February 25, Mr Jasper, who was living with his parents at the time in Conwy, went to a nearby shop to buy alcohol at about 6.30pm following an argument with them about his drinking.

Though he had not returned home the next morning, his father said this was not unusual of him, but found his body partially in a stream after going to look for him at about 12pm on February 26.

Detective Sergeant John Rich said that officers found Mr Jasper lying in a small stream near Coed Coch, fully clothed, with a partially drunk vodka bottle next to him.

There was swelling to his head, and blood around one of his eyes, DS Rich added.

With the assistance of a mountain rescue team, Mr Jasper’s body was recovered from the water.

DS Rich’s conclusion was that, due to being fully clothed, Mr Jasper had not entered the stream intentionally, and that his head injury likely meant he had fallen accidentally.

Dr Zain Medhi, in undertaking Mr Jasper’s post-mortem examination, found bruising to his knees, and injuries to his lower lip and nose, as well as myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Samples of his blood and urine showed the presence of alcohol at a near-fatal level, as well as Sertraline, an antidepressant, at a sub-therapeutic level.

Concluding, Ms Robertson told Mr Jasper’s father: “He sadly seemed to have an addiction to alcohol, which he had used as a coping mechanism from, certainly, his late teenage years

“It’s clear that both you and your wife did all you could, and continued to do all you could until the very end, but the reality is that this addiction had gripped Richard.

“It’s very difficult, when that is the case, to be able to assist, unless they want to receive that assistance.

“I certainly make no criticism of that; it’s an addiction that he appears to have had for quite some time.”