Man with three-litre-a-day cola habit drank himself to death

A MAN who consumed up to three litres of cola a day drank himself to death, an inquest heard.
The Three Sisters care home in Haworth, where Paul Inman was found dead in his bedroom. Picture: Ross Parry AgencyThe Three Sisters care home in Haworth, where Paul Inman was found dead in his bedroom. Picture: Ross Parry Agency
The Three Sisters care home in Haworth, where Paul Inman was found dead in his bedroom. Picture: Ross Parry Agency

Paul Inman, 30, drank excessive amounts of cola and water, an obsession which stemmed from Asperger Syndrome.

It caused his lungs to swell to four times the normal weight and he died in his sleep.

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Mr Inman lived at Three Sisters Care Home in Haworth, where he was found dead in his bedroom by a care worker on March 10 last year.

Mr Inman had seemed well when staff saw him going into his room the night before. He usually locked his door but on this occasion had not, the inquest in Bradford heard.

Detectives found there were no suspicious circumstances.

The inquest heard Mr Inman never stayed still and care staff had to keep his cigarettes so he would not smoke 20 in one hour. He would pace up and down continually, could go through two pairs of trainers a week and would walk to nearby shops to buy his cola.

He would drink about two to three litres of the drink a day, plus water.

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When he was 17, Mr Inman was diagnosed with schizophrenia but when his case was reviewed in 2008 doctors then found that he suffered from Aspergers – a form of autism.

Six months before his death he moved to the Three Sisters home where he was extremely happy, said his mother Alison Inman, who attended the hearing with his father, David.

Pathologist Dr Deirdre Mckenna found the cause of death to be due to a huge build-up of liquid in his lungs caused by his excessive thirst.

This was caused by Mr Inman’s non-medical condition of polydipsia – which translates from the Greek as “much thirst”, which in turn was a result of Asperger Syndrome.

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He was already known to have had low sodium levels because of the volume of fluids that he drank.

After hearing Dr McKenna’s report, Mrs Inman said: “I’m not a pathologist but I made that decision two hours after he died. I’ve said all this time the cause of it was he drank excessively, absolutely excessively. He had done since he was 10 years old.

“We used to say he had a self-destruct button.”

Coroner Dr Dominic Bell recorded a verdict that Mr Inman died of natural causes.