MYSTERY surrounds the circumstances of how a holidaymaker fell to his death from a West Somerset cottage window last year.

An inquest into the death of Paul Smith failed to shed light on the tragedy and Somerset Senior Coroner Samantha Marsh recorded an ‘open’ conclusion.

Mr Smith, an engineer from Camberley, Surrey, who was aged 55, died near Luxborough on May 3, 2023.

He was found ‘unresponsive’ on the ground outside his holiday let at about 5am that morning.

Mrs Marsh said: “The evidence does not fully or further explain how he came to leave the property via the small cottage-style bathroom window on the first floor.

“On the balance of probabilities, he left the window at some time between 3am and 4.30am that morning, falling to the ground, and sustained unsurvivable injuries.”

Mrs Marsh said Mr Smith died from a ‘head injury and fractured thoracic spine’.