THE stepson of a man who died minutes after breaking up a fight said last night: "He was trying to protect me."

Silas Hickman died of heart failure after breaking up a scuffle outside the house of his partner and 18-year-old stepson, Daniel Farnell, in Melrose Drive, St Helen Auckland, County Durham.

Last night, a distraught Mr Farnell revealed he had been involved in the incident with two other men.

And he said: "My stepfather died protecting me.

"Sye came out and tried to split it up.

"He was just about to get in the bath, he didn't even have any socks on, just tracksuit bottoms and a baseball cap."

Daniel added that it was typical of Mr Hickman, a former football player who lived in Chester Street, Grasswell, Houghton-le-Spring.

"If it had been someone else fighting, he would still have come out," he said.

"Five minutes later, my mother found him when she went in the bathroom.

"I tried to bring him round, but it was no good."

Mr Hickman was known to his family and friends as Sye.

His stepson said: "He used to hate being called Silas."

He started a relationship with Mr Farnell's mother last year.

She has been wheelchair-bound since a horse riding accident seven years ago.

"We were just starting to get things sorted," he said.

"My mum loved him to pieces. It was the first time I'd seen her happy for years, since her other husband, Christopher, died a few years ago.

"I saw a change in her - then I saw Sye and I knew why. He made her laugh all the time.

"He loved his football. He was going to start going to Darlington with me, but Newcastle were his team."

A post-mortem examination held on Sunday concluded that Mr Hickman had died of natural causes.

An inquest into Mr Hickman's death was opened yesterday.

l Police arrested two men, aged 19 and 23, but released them on police bail after the post-mortem examination revealed Mr Hickman had died of natural causes.

A police spokesman said of Mr Hickman's death: "It could have happened at any time."