A LEIGH businessman choked to death while he was asleep in a Kenyan hotel room, an inquest heard.

Clive Walsh died when three pieces of regurgitated food caused a freak while on a business trip in Nairobi.

The deputy coroner, Alan Walsh, told Bolton Coroner's Court that Mr Walsh's death had been "so sudden and unusual" that British detectives initially thought that foul-play had been involved.

The 43-year-old business development manager had been in Africa to look for new clients for his engineering company, Jacobi Carbons.

He had flown over to Kenya on April 25 last year and was due to return just over a week later, on May 5. However, the flight home had been delayed.

His widow, Kathryn, of Winmarleigh Gardens in Leigh, had been in regular contact with him throughout this trip and they would chat at least four or five times a day.

She was the last person he spoke to on the night he died, when he told her he would phone her back in five minutes.

He never made that call, instead he passed out in his room at the Fairview Hotel close to the city's airport. He was aiming to fly home the next day.

Mrs Walsh told the court: "I was waiting and waiting for him to ring back.

"He had been out with friends that night at a local bar. I know that he had eaten and had a few beers. When I spoke to him he said he was really tired, but he seemed fine."

When she was unable to get in touch, she became increasingly worried, called the hotel's reception and asked them to check on him. They refused, saying he was not in his room.

She added: "Every two hours I would call and still they would not check. Eventually, at about 11am the next morning, a cleaner went in to the room and found Clive dead on the floor.”

Mr Walsh had passed out, and choked on three pieces of food from the meal he had eaten the night before. They became lodged and, unable to wake up, he had died through respiratory failure because of asphyxiation.

Pathologist Philip Lumb agreed with the findings of the Kenyan doctor, Peter Ndegwa, saying that something could have become caught in Mr Walsh's larynx while he was asleep.

Deputy coroner Alan Walsh agreed with Mr Lumb and ruled out third-party involvement, affects of altitude and heart problems.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.