Man dies after using throat spray

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/south_east/8048912.stm

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A 42-year-old man has died in his partner's arms just hours after he used a spray for a sore throat.

Tests are being carried out on the body of Paul Horrigan, from Cardiff, who died in the early hours of Monday.

His partner of 12 years, Claire Stark bought him the over-the-counter spray which initially relieved his symptoms, she said.

She believes Mr Horrigan did not have an allergic reaction to the spray, rather it masked another problem.

Father-of-one Mr Horrigan, from the Llanrumney area of Cardiff, had been off work with a broken leg but had complained of a cough last week.

This turned into a sore throat at the weekend but Ms Stark said he had spent his Sunday normally, mowing the lawn and looking after his two-year-old son Rhys.

"On Sunday night we went to bed and I woke up at 2.30 with a shock. He was rasping for breath," she said.

That is just the hardest part - he was just too good to waste Claire Stark

"As quick as I phoned an ambulance, I turned around and he was gone, dead.

"He was not allergic to the spray. The sore throat spray masked the condition of what was really wrong with him.

"When the throat spray had worn off what was wrong with his throat came back with a vengeance, twice as tough as what it was before and that is what has closed his throat."

Ms Stark said her partner, a construction worker, was very fit and healthy and regularly weight trained.

His friend Mark Blackmore said he had also played rugby.

"That is the saddest thing about it," said Ms Stark. "He didn't have trophies or awards for this, that and the other but everybody knew him.

"That is just the hardest part - he was just too good to waste.

"I was never going to be a single parent, our relationship was for life."

Further tests are being carried out on Mr Horrigan's body following a post mortem examination.