THE family of a man found dead after being hit by a police stun gun last night refused to accept that he died from natural causes.

Although an inquest was unable to link Brian Loan’s death from a heart attack to his arrest three days earlier, two pathologists conceded that they could be proved wrong in the future.

Mr Loan received severe bruising, cuts and a broken bone in his left foot which, the hearing was told, could have been caused by him being “stamped upon” while in police custody.

Yesterday’s inquest heard that Mr Loan, a 46-year-old father of seven, was found dead on a settee at his father’s house in Wallace Gardens, Gateshead, on the morning of October 14 last year.

He had been arrested three days earlier outside his home in Lilac Avenue, Sacriston, County Durham, after an armed police response unit was dispatched following allegations that he had attacked a woman in the house, injuring her with an axe and attacking a neighbour who had tried to intervene.

Giving evidence, Detective Inspector Steve Winship, from the Professional Standards and Legal Services Department at Durham Police, said Mr Loan was classified by the superintendent as being violent and potentially dangerous because of his access to weapons and alcohol use.

DI Winship said police had armed themselves with Taser guns, capable of shooting 50,000 electric volts into their target, as a “less lethal option than conventional firearms”. The officer added that Mr Loan had been ordered to “surrender peacefully” but refused, and officers suspected he may have had access to axes and knives.

A Taser fired by the first officer and a baton round fired by a second “seemed to have had little effect”, but a Taser fired by a third officer subdued Mr Loan.

After his arrest he was taken into custody in Durham, and appeared before magistrates at Consett the following day, where he was granted bail after being charged with making threats to kill, three offences of assault and making threats to damage property.

Bail conditions included staying at his father’s address, and he spent the night alone at his father’s house, but was found dead by him the next morning. It later emerged that he had a severely diseased heart unbeknown to his relatives.

Pathologists Dr Mark Egan and Dr Nigel Cooper, who both carried out post mortem examinations on Mr Loan’s body, said they were unable to link his death with injuries sustained either during or after his arrest.

Dr Cooper acknowledged that “being Tasered” had killed other people, but added that they had died almost immediately after they had received the shock, and not three days later like Mr Loan.

He said: “It is possible, I suppose, that evidence after other people have been Tasered will be found in five or 10 years to prove me wrong.” Gateshead and South Tyneside coroner Terence Carney said: “It may be that in five or 10 years somebody will find a link, but nobody has found me one in the case of Mr Loan.

“If they gave me a link I would record that there was a link.”

Mr Loan’s sister, Barbara Hodgson, 47, of Helmsley Green, Gateshead, said: “One day it will be proven that the Taser caused my brother’s death.”

Verdict: death by natural causes.