A BURNHAM-on-Sea man who was found dead in his police cell in Bridgwater died of natural causes, an inquest heard.

David Fournier D'Able, 40, of College Street, was found dead in his police cell at Bridgwater Custody Centre on December 30, 2014, just two days after he was arrested in Burnham for being drunk and disorderly.

A post mortem examination, carried out by Dr Russell Delaney, a forensic pathologist at Musgrove Park Hospital, showed Mr Fournier D'Able died from a pulmonary thromboembolism and not as a result of a blow to the head.

A pulmonary thromboembolism is the sudden blockage of a lung artery due to a blood clot that was dislodged from somewhere else in the body, usually the legs.

This leads to obstruction of the blood supply to the lung tissue.

Dr Delaney said the head injury occurred as a result of a struggle between officers and Mr Fournier D'Able at the custody centre on December 28 but this was not reported to paramedics who took him to Musgrove Park Hospital for tests.

The inquest heard three Avon and Somerset Police officers were found guilty of misconduct in 2017 following a public hearing into their actions after the 40-year-old's arrest but no sanctions were imposed on the officers.

Senior coroner, Tony Williams, said the cause of Mr Fournier D'Able's sudden death was not related to the misconduct proceedings.

The inquest heard Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service was called to a property in College Street on December 28 following reports of a fire.

Firefighters removed two people from the property, including Mr Fournier D'Able, and paramedics treated them for smoke inhalation.

While at the scene firefighters reported that Mr Fournier D'Able had made a number of attempts to get back into the property while it was still on fire and had been verbally aggressive to some of the firefighters.

The inquest heard Mr Fournier D'Able appeared drunk at the scene and had left and gone to a local pub.

He then had an altercation with police before walking into the path of a fire support vehicle and jumping on the bonnet.

Police arrested him and took him to Bridgwater Custody Centre and during a struggle officers used PAVA spray to stop Mr Fournier D'Able from being violent.

The inquest heard he was regularly monitored by health professionals after he appeared to be fitting and in pain while in his cell and was taken to hospital for treatment.

He was declared fit to be detained and was charged with being drunk and disorderly on December 29.

Dr Delaney said Mr Fournier D'Able has a history of alcohol dependency and drug misuse but no alcohol was present in his system at the time of his death.

When concluding the inquest, senior coroner, Tony Williams, said: "David died as a result of a pulmonary thromboembolism from deep vein thrombosis."