A RETIRED painter and decorator died after colliding with a car on a route he had walked for 45 years, an inquest heard.

George Albert Farrington, a great-grandfather who formerly worked for St Helens Council, died on Tuesday, September 10 last year while crossing St Helens Linkway.

An inquest at St Helens Town Hall heard how Mr Farrington, 80, who had been diagnosed with dementia and suffered from depression, would often go for long walks close to the house he shared with his wife on Toftwood Avenue in Rainhill.

Early on September 10 he set out after his wife asked him to stay away from the linkway.

A short time later he was hit by a grey Ford Fiesta and died from multiple injuries.

Sergeant Paul Hulme, from Merseyside Police’s Collision Investigation Unit, explained the woman driver had been within the speed limit and had taken her foot off the accelerator as she approached the fatal spot.

As Mr Farrington attempted to cross the busy road it gave the driver no time to react and avoid the collision.

His widow Mildred Farrington, 77, told the inquest that he had taken that similar route for 45 years.

The family stressed that they did not believe that the incident was down to his medical condition and she pleaded to the coroner that her husband should not be blamed.

Coroner Christopher Sumner said: “I can’t make a decision to put blame on anyone. I have the facts and must make a verdict.

“You could drive down a road 100 times but it just takes one time to make a mistake. That is a dangerous road. We all lose concentration from time to time which is what I think possible happened but we will never know.

“The driver has not been prosecuted and no one saw the incident. It is one word against another and unfortunately one of those has died.

“I’m not going to say what caused it because we will never know. All I am going to say is that he was in a collision and it was an unequal contest.”

He ruled Mr Farrington’s death as an accident.

CAPTION George Farrington known to everyone as Albert died after the incident on St Helens Linkway (Albert George Farrington.jpg)