A pensioner who told medics that he had injured his hand falling off a ladder later admitted that he had been bitten by a dog.

By that time, however, the wound was badly infected and it resulted in his death a few weeks later.

Retired entertainer Gary Ryan died at Whiston Hospital, Warrington, on September 9 last year, having been transferred there from Glan Clwyd Hospital for plastic surgery.

An inquest in Ruthin heard that the 74-year-old, of Ceg-y-Ffordd, Prestatyn, first attended the emergency department at Glan Clwyd on July 21 and said the injury to his right hand had been caused by a fall.

The wound was cleaned and sutured and he was then allowed home, but he returned in great pain a couple of days later and admitted he had been bitten.

He was admitted to hospital but was transferred to Whiston on July 29, where he underwent a skin graft, but his condition deteriorated and he suffered a series of strokes.

The cause of his death was given as multi-organ failure due to sepsis, though he had also contracted pneumonia  and suffered from diabetes and asthma.

Recording a narrative conclusion David Pojur, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, said it had clearly been a severe dog bite which, combined with all the other factors, had led to his death.