A MAN found dead at his home with a fridge on top of him appeared to have pulled it over in an "involuntary movement" from its insecure plinth while he was having a stroke, a coroner concluded.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, senior coroner for Gwent David Bowen said a post mortem examination on the body of William Woolley, aged 67, from Ynysddu, Caerphilly, found that he died of "crush asphyxia" due to a "cerebro-vascular accident, a stroke."

An inquest into Mr Woolley's death was told he lived alone in the village and the alarm had been raised on July 12 last year after he had not been seen for several days.

Police broke into his home and found his body partially under the fallen fridge in the laundry room.

Mr Bowen said that from the evidence it appeared the plinth on which the fridge was mounted had been insecure and Mr Woolley had been near it when the stroke occurred.

"It is likely that in its throes he pulled the fridge on top of himself in an involvuntary movement," he said.