Ricky Hatton’s cause of death revealed as boxer diagnosed with devastating brain injury

Former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton was found dead in the games room of his home – an inquest heard he was experiencing memory loss and had a brain injury

Boxing legend Ricky Hatton was suffering with memory loss and had a devastating brain injury, an inquest heard. The British sporting icon was discovered dead aged 46 at his home in Hyde, Greater Manchester, on September 14 last year, sending shockwaves through the boxing world.

The full inquest opened today at South Manchester Coroners’ Court in Stockport with Hatton’s last moments under the microscope.

A statement from pathologist Dr Neil Papworth was read out in court. He gave details of the injuries found and concluded they were ‘consistent with hanging’. He said there was ‘no evidence to suggest suspicious circumstances’ in the death.

The court heard that samples of Hatton’s brain were analysed. While ‘no macroscopic abnormalities’ were identified, there was a ‘degree of chronic neuronal loss which is the loss of nerve cells’ in the ‘microscopic’ analysis of the brain, according to Dr Papworth.

The doctor said he found evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) although this was at the ‘milder end of the spectrum of this disease’.

He noted that as a boxer Mr Hatton ‘received repeated blows to his head’ over his career but he said it was ‘not possible’ to determine the process by which Mr Hatton was affected by CTE.

He recorded the cause of death as ‘hanging’.

In a statement read out to the court, Hatton’s son Campbell said his father was “very happy, always very laid back, except when it came to sport.”

“He lived his life in and out of the ring at a hundred per cent and as he always said he never regretted it,” said Campbell.

He said his father was “fearless,” but had problems with his mental health and memory loss but was “always generous with people around him.”

He had mental health “battles” and alcohol issues, and went into the Priory, the inquest heard.

“We felt he had been in the best place he had been in for years,” his son added, but there was a “decline’ in his father’s ‘short-term memory” over recent years.

He would forget conversations, including one on the Friday evening before his death, the inquest heard He sometimes showed “how confused and forgetful he could be’,” Campbell added.

Campbell said he believed his father’s death “wasn’t premeditated.”

The inquest has been told that Ricky Hatton was found dead by his manager and close friend, Paul Speak, in the games room of his home in Hyde.

A doctor completed a toxicological report after receiving samples of blood and urine. Some 212mg of ethanol per decilitre of blood, and 253mg of ethanol per declitre of urine, were found in Hatton’s system, the court heard.

These findings were ‘consistent with alcohol intoxication’ at the time of death, according to the doctor, whose statement was read out.

It was also considered ‘likely’ that alcohol was still being absorbed at the time, the inquest was told.

The level of alcohol in his system was the equivalent of being twice the legal drink-drive limit, the court heard. The inquest heard there was also ‘evidence of prior cocaine use’.

The doctor, however, went on to say that there was no evidence cocaine was consumed in the hours before his death.

The inquest also heard there was evidence of ‘cannabinoids’ in Hatton’s system.

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