Portsmouth family pay tribute to 'Pops' who died month after falling over wall and injuring his head
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Matthew Burgess, known by family and friends as Pops, died on August 29 last year with multi-organ failure that developed after a fall over a wall injuring his head, an inquest for Portsmouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday.
The 44-year-old had attended A&E at Queen Alexandra Hospital several times since the fall on July 16.
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Hide AdStepdaughter Emma Giacopazzi, 28, said: ‘He was a happy-go-lucky bloke. He was a cheeky chap when it came to the law but he loved everyone. He loved his family and he loved his friends. He would do anything for anyone and that was part of his problem.’
The inquest also heard about an alleged assault by an unidentified person on Mr Burgess on July 5 at his home in Portsmouth, that he shared with partner Samantha Martin, Emma’s mother, who died three weeks before Mr Burgess.
Mum-of-one Emma, who also has a younger sister Molly, 22, and brother Jake Gurr, 25, said: ‘It has been a difficult time for our family. They were together for more than 10 years and Pops said he would never be able to live without my mum and he proved it.
‘He was the best stepdad.’
Coroner Jason Pegg recorded an accidental death.
He said: ‘The deceased suffered a fall on July 16, 2019 whilst walking a dog, the deceased fell over a wall causing a head injury.
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Hide Ad‘The significance of that head injury was not recognised by the deceased and subsequently caused the deceased to develop multi-organ failure.
‘The deceased had consumed a significant quantity of oxycodone when admitted to hospital on August 15, 2019 which contributed to the death.’
Emma and her siblings are now trying to find Mr Burgess’ family, who they believe live in Manchester.
Emma added: ‘He gave me a pocketwatch and wanted to me give it to his daughter but we can’t track down his family. We want them to know what happened to him and to give the watch to them.’
Contact Emma at [email protected]