A MAN died in his bedroom cupboard after a wardrobe toppled to the floor, trapping him inside.

Ronald McClagish, 51, struggled to free himself for up to a week, an inquest heard, but succumbed to bronchitis before he was found.

A tragic sequence of events unfolded after police were called to the home of the divorced father of two on February 15 by an elderly neighbour who had not seen Mr McClagish for two weeks.

While the exact details of how Mr McClagish, an unemployed motorcycle mechanic, came to be stuck in his cupboard will never be known, it is believed that he had been cleaning inside it when a wardrobe fell and wedged itself against the door.

Mr McClagish, who lived alone in Murrow, Cambridgeshire, discovered that the wardrobe was too heavy to move so he wrenched off a copper water pipe inside the cupboard to use as a battering ram. This decision may have cost him his life.

Water from the broken pipe poured out , soaking Mr McClagish. Faced with a constant torrent of water, Mr McClagish fought for survival. In an effort to alert his neighbours, he banged on the inside of the cupboard.

When this failed to raise the alarm, he tried to dig his way out with the piece of pipe. Scratch marks were found on the inside of the cupboard. When police arrived at the house, a “tearful and anxious” neighbour reported hearing “repeated digging sounds”.

They found Mr McClagish’s body inside the cupboard with his feet poking out of the bottom. Water was still gushing from the pipe on to Mr McClagish. It took two officers to shift the bulky wardrobe.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr McClagish had died a week before of bronchitis which was either brought about or worsened by his body being immersed in water.

Dr William Landells, consultant pathologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, said cause of death was chronically diseased airways and swelling of the lungs caused by bronchitis.

He added that the unstoppable current had caused considerable damage to the face. But Dr Landells could not be sure if Mr McClagish had the disease before he became trapped or if he developed it afterwards.

He concluded that it was “just possible” to contract the illness and die from it in such a short period of time.

The inquest in Wisbech was delayed by six months after the coroner had asked police to carry out further inquiries. However, the investigation found no suggestion of foul play or signs that an intruder had been in the home and deliberately knocked the wardrobe over.

PC Andrew Clifton of Cambridgeshire Police said officers found no evidence of forced entry or any suspicious injuries on Mr McClagish. He added that marks on the wall suggested that the wardrobe had fallen over before.

William Morris, North and East Cambridgeshire Coroner, recorded an open verdict because he could not say conclusively when Mr McClagish had developed bronchitis.

“I am satisfied Mr McClagish went into the cupboard himself and wasn’t put in there by someone else,” Mr Morris said. “I don’t know why the wardrobe fell over and this will continue to worry the family. But sometimes there are questions that are never answered.”

Mr McClagish’s family are not happy with the police investigation.

William McClagish, his brother, said after the hearing: “I am very suspicious about what happened.

“I think someone else must have been involved in his death. I think he could have been in a fight or someone might have tried to rob him.

“It must have been terrible for him stuck in the cold and the darkness.”

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