THE reason why a 29- year-old man died after suffering a seizure at his Newport home could not be pinpointed despite extensive tests at a post mortem, an inquest was told.

Father-of-three Luke Osmond was just days away from beginning work at Tesco’s distribution centre in Magor when he collapsed in the bedroom of the home he shared with partner Charlene Sotiros in Medway Road, Bettws.

The deputy coroner of Gwent Wendy James recorded a verdict of natural causes after hearing that Mr Osmond had been found on the bedroom floor by Ms Sotiros on the morning of Friday, September 21, last year, apparently having a seizure.

She had gone to investigate after a hearing a bang upstairs and thinking that it was one of the dogs. Mr Osmond’s mother Lesley Willis told the inquest that her other son had phoned her late that morning to tell her that Luke had been taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital after suffering a seizure.

He was dead when she got there. She said he had not been unwell when she spoke to him the previous day, and was looking forward to starting his new job.

Miss James said consultant pathologist Dr Nick Dallimore had been unable to ascertain the cause of death “after extensive examination.”

Mr Dallimore had, the coroner said, found “aspiration of gastric contents (inhalation of stomach contents into the lungs and respiratory tract), which fits in with someone choking.”

Aspiration can cause death without an underlying cause.

“There were no toxins found and there had been no cardiac or other event,” said Miss James.

“Mr Osmond had a thickened mitral (heart) valve cusp, which could have been the source of a blood clot in the heart or brain, but there was no trace of it.”

Last September the Argus reported on the sudden death of Mr Osmond - father to Lee, Jake and Callum - as relatives and friends rallied round to raise money to pay for his funeral.

A grieving Ms Sotiros said his death had left “a massive hole in our lives”.

She added: “It’s hard.

But people have been very kind, and that’s a big help.”