A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND dad of four plunged himself head first into a pond after doctors failed to diagnose an abscess which left him paralysed.

Steven Richardson was on anti-depressants and barely able to feed himself when he took the decision to end his life.

He was struck down with a crippling spinal condition in November 2003 and was admitted to Warrington Hospital on a number of occasions suffering from a stiff neck.

Despite being administered morphine for his pain, doctors failed to detect what was wrong with him until a scan was later carried out at Walton Hospital.

A neurosurgeon at Walton is said to have told Steven that the spinal abscess had become infected and was 'definitely down to clinical negligence.'

The 47-year-old spent his final days in the spinal unit at Southport Hospital in February last year, before he was discovered by relatives in a pond near Lodge Lane in Runcorn.

An inquest at Warrington heard how Mr Richardson, of Calvers, had become very frustrated with his condition and repeatedly told his girl-friend Paula Carter that he didn't want to become a burden. He kept saying: 'I can't go on like this.'

His teenage son had also been made aware his father was planning to kill himself a day before his death in September - and was instructed to leave him alone in his electric wheelchair down by the canal.

The pair had been on their way to the Co-op to pick up some hay fever tablets when the incident happened at the back of the Fiddlers pub.

Describing her partner's suicide attempt, Paula said: 'My son was upset and put the wheelchair into manual mode so he couldn't move before coming into the Fiddlers to find me.

'He kept saying he was going to do it that night and drive himself into the canal.'

The inquest heard how the crippling illness changed Steven - a former warehouse officer - from being the 'family provider' and very active man who used to love fishing, cycling and jogging.

Paula, a housewife, told the inquest: 'He started getting ill with a stiff neck and was given a range of pills. But it was getting more painful.

'He went to Accident & Emergency leading up to Christmas Eve in 2003 but they kept giving him morphine.

'He was kept in a cubicle for a few hours but sometimes they didn't give him anything. The last time he went he was loosing feeling in his fingers and the last couple of times he was unsteady on his legs.

'He went into hospital again at about 6.30am on Christmas Eve and the nurse said they can't keep giving out morphine.

'She was making out he was just coming back for the morphine.

He went to a physio at Warrington Hospital who said 'don't let A&E fob you off, get the doctor to admit you'.'

Before his illness took hold, Steven had worked for London Transport before relocating to British Rail in Runcorn, and later Tibbett & Britten in August 1995.

On the day he died he asked his son to put him outside and was found drowned after a 20 minute search by relatives and police.

Paula recalled: 'He had a couple of coffees and a glass of juice that day but didn't have anything to eat.

'He was really quiet all day.' Janet Napier, deputy coroner for Cheshire, told Paula: 'He had an operation at Walton Hospital but this diagnosis didn't appear to be made until paralysis started.

'He didn't regain the use of his body and was in a wheelchair. He found this difficult to come to terms with.

'It seems to me quite clear that he made the decision to end his own life and thought it best for his family.'

Verdict: Suicide.