PUB chain Wetherspoon could face criminal proceedings after the death of a Bingley pensioner, a coroner’s court has heard.

CCTV captured the moment 73-year-old Keith Holmes came into contact with an A-board outside the company’s Myrtle Grove pub in the town’s Main Street, hitting his head on the ground.

Mr Holmes, of Canal Road, died from a head injury the next day at Bradford Royal Infirmary and the incident, on the afternoon of Saturday, November 19 last year, is now being investigated by Bradford Council’s Environmental Health department.

Lead investigating officer Jane Bradbury told Bradford Coroner Martin Fleming no decision had yet been made yet about criminal proceedings against JD Wetherspoon plc, as officers were still looking to see if there was any criminal culpability.

She said the pub company was co-operating with the investigation and had until August 23 to respond to a series of questions put to them.

At yesterday’s pre-inquest review, Mr Fleming said he was not happy that statements essential to the hearing had only been coming in “dribs and drabs” and in “a piecemeal fashion”.

“I’m not entirely happy that has been dragging on. I’m keen to make rapid progress here. I can’t as a coroner tolerate any more delays. This family are grieving and they want answers,” he said. However, Mr Fleming agreed not to disclose at this stage the contents of a report by a specialist Health & Safety officer because it could compromise the environmental health investigation.

He also said, given the uncertainty of the CCTV footage, he might consider a jury being brought in.

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Mr Fleming said: “I can’t establish from it whether or not it’s a case of Keith falling over the A-board or whether the A-board has blown into him. It’s not possible to see from the footage.”

A second pre-inquest review will now be held on Tuesday, September 19, by which time Mr Fleming expected to have accident statistics from Wetherspoon, design and manufacturing details of the A-board, details of training given to Wetherspoon staff about using A-boards and instructions about using them in adverse weather.

Marta Tomlinson, for the pub chain, questioned giving the accident statistics but Mr Fleming insisted he wanted to see them, in case lessons were to be learned to prevent future deaths.