Cause of King's Lynn man’s fatal head injury unknown

A Lynn man may have suffered fatal head injuries in an assault several weeks before he died, a court has heard.

Police have confirmed two men were interviewed over the death of Guy Perry, but no further action is being taken.

And a narrative verdict was recorded at an inquest held in Lynn’s magistrates court on Friday, after it was told it could not be conclusively proven how the injuries happened.

Mr Perry, who was 54 and had what was described as a long history of alcohol use, died in Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital on June 1 last year.

The court was told he had been admitted to hospital on three separate occasions in the month before his death.

The first, on May 9, followed an incident at the Alexandra House hostel in Dodmans Close in which several witnesses suggested Mr Perry may have been assaulted by a man who regularly stayed in one of the flats there.

Mr Perry, who was diagnosed as having a bleed on the brain, a fractured eye socket and a fractured nose, had also lived at the hostel for several months before being evicted in April 2017 and regularly returned there afterwards.

Det Insp Deborah Gunnell, of Norfolk Police, said a man named as Mr Perry’s assailant declined to comment when he was interviewed by officers, while a friend who was living in the same flat said he had seen him assault Mr Perry.

But she said the evidence was “not strong” and confirmed no further action was being taken.

As well as head and brain injuries, Mr Perry was also found to have fractured ribs following his death, as well as other health issues.

A post-mortem examination said the injuries were consistent with those of a fall or “blunt force” in an assault. Mr Perry was known to suffer regular falls because of his drinking.

But pathologist Dr Charlotte Randall said the exact cause “cannot be deduced from pathology alone”.

Coroner Jacqueline Lake recorded the primary cause of death as head injury with heart disease as a contributory factor.