A VERDICT of accidental death was recorded yesterday after a pensioner's heart stopped when he was given saline too quickly.

The incident happened when Robert Leckenby, 79, was admitted to The University Hospital of North Tees, Stockton, on December 12, 1998, after he vomited blood.

He was diagnosed as having low blood pressure, and doctors prescribed three one-litre blood transfusions, each to be drip-fed over four hours, followed by two six-hour infusions of a litre of saline and a litre of dextrose.

The Teesside inquest heard that a problem was first noticed by the night shift on ward 24, following Mr Leckenby's third blood transfusion.

Staff nurse Andrea Clark said she asked sister Sylvia Fay to set up the saline drip before going on a break, at about 4.40am. When she next saw Mr Leckenby, of York Avenue, Horden, near Peterlee, County Durham, just after 5.30am, all the saline had run through.

His condition rapidly deteriorated and, despite efforts to save him, he died. In a statement to police, sister Fay said she had fitted the saline drip at 5am, carefully checking that it was flowing at the proper rate.

She said: "I have been to hell and back going over and over this in my mind."

Tests carried out on the drip found it to be working normally. Home office pathologist, Dr John McCarthy, said it was likely that former miner Mr Leckenby died from heart failure caused by an over infusion of saline.

Recording the verdict, Teesside coroner Michael Sheffield said: "It cannot be said with certainty that sister Fay did not administer the drops as she said."

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Leckenby's daughter, Carol Elvin, said: "The family are disappointed that we have not got to the bottom of this.