A MOTORCYLE accident 57 years ago led in part to the death of an elderly Taunton man, an inquest has heard.

John George Goodman, 76, of Lavender Court, Taunton, was rushed to the town’s Musgrove Park Hospital after he collapsed unconscious during an epileptic seizure on June 26.

Mr Goodman’s condition failed to improve despite treatment and he died the following day.

The hearing was told that he suffered a fractured skull in a motorcycle accident when he was only 19 and was in hospital for many months.

He was cared for by his mother and later brother and sister-in-law for a number of years due to epilepsy which resulted from the crash.

Although he then lived independently for a time, he was eventually moved to Lavender Court as he could no longer care for himself.

Acting senior West Somerset Coroner Tony Williams gave the cause of death as epilepsy following an historic road traffic accident.

Mr Williams returned a narrative conclusion, in which he said: “He died from complications of epilepsy brought about by a head injury suffered in approximately 1957, when a motorcycle being ridden by him was in collision with a tree.”