A pensioner who was jailed for trying to kill his retirement home manager during a brutal knife attack died of natural causes while serving his time behind bars, a coroner has ruled.

Fred Butcher was handed a 13-year sentence in March last year for repeatedly stabbing Mina Turner at Hengist Court in Marsham Street, Maidstone, on January 26, 2017.

Butcher spent just two months in prison before his death, which was confirmed by the county’s coroner’s office last summer.

The murder attempt at the retirement home started when Butcher reversed in his car to the back entrance before hitting Mrs Turner with the blunt end of a meat cleaver.

During the struggle she was stabbed above her eye and in the neck and then in the stomach.

When arrested, Butcher told police: "I meant to kill her. She's been winding me up."

An inquest at the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone was told how the 80-year-old retired pipe fitter had a history of heart disease, which resulted in him having a pacemaker fitted, and that he was taking medication for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Gravesend-born Butcher had often reported a shortness of breath and had been in and out of Medway Maritime Hospital shortly after arriving at HMP Elmley on the Isle of Sheppey.

He was admitted to hospital again on May 2 last year after suffering cardiac failure and was given end of life care before he died in the early hours of May 10.

A medical review found the care he received while in prison was "at least as good as in a community setting".

Senior coroner Patricia Harding told the inquest: "Mr Butcher died from congestive heart failure as a result of COPD, from which he suffered.

"It's a naturally occurring medical disease and the evidence I have read showed it run its full course and caused his death.

"I conclude he died of natural causes."

Addressing family members in attendance, she added: "All that remains for me to say is how very sorry I am for your loss."

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