A DRUNK racecourse worker choked to death on a sausage after stumbling out of his friend's car and urinating against a nearby wall.

Slawomir Jan Latek, 38, was picked up from his Wexham home on Saturday, August 15, last year by his friend Piotr Bogunia as the pair were both due to work at the venue for the Red Bull Air Race at Ascot Racecourse that day.

An inquest held into his death at Reading Town Hall on Thursday, January 7, heard that initially Mr Bogunia believed Mr Latek, of Quinbrookes, - who was carrying a soft drink and a yellow backpack - was completely fine and behaving normally.

It was only when the pair pulled into the car park for the main entrance to the Silver Ring enclosure and Mr Latek stepped out of the car that Mr Bogunia realised he was heavily intoxicated and that there were empty cans of beer inside his bag.

As Mr Latek stumbled from the vehicle, he began to urinate on a nearby wall, then grabbed a sausage from his backpack, took a bite and began to choke.

In his police statement, Mr Bogunia described how Mr Latek then collapsed onto the floor on his knees, hitting the car bonnet as he fell.

Security guard Francis Laurent, who was on duty, told police officers that at some time between 10am and 11am when he was covering the entrance he heard a car travelling along the road and turned to look to see a small silver car pulling into the racecourse car park about 25 yards away from him.

He explained how he had seen a man walk away from the car 'visibly intoxicated' and 'swaying from side to side', then saw him begin to urinate so shouted at him to stop.

As he walked back to the car, he saw him fall so rushed over to help him where he found him on the floor making strange noises which he believed had been caused by the fall and saw blood gushing from his nose.

It was then, he later told officers, he saw a piece of sausage in the door pocket of the passenger's side of the car and realised Mr Latek was choking.

Paramedics were called to the scene where they removed the food lodged in Mr Latek's throat and fought to revive him with CPR before he was rushed to Frimley Park Hospital where he died.

Senior coroner Peter Bedford confirmed that a toxicology report showed that Mr Latek had 313mg of alcohol in his blood at the time of this death - "a significant level of alcohol even in a heavy drinker".

Pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl verified Mr Latek had suffered minor cuts and scrapes to his face, left shoulder and left hand, consistent with a fall, but no skull fracture or bleed to the brain.

Traces of the sausage were found in his windpipe and airways and stomach.

Delivering a verdict of misadventure, Mr Bedford said: "The fact that he chose to openly urinate in a public place supports the evidence of a man who must have been significantly under the influence of alcohol.

"The fact he then chose to deliberately bite a substantial amount of sausage while heavily intoxicated carries with it a certain amount of risk."

He also batted off claims made by Mr Latek's estranged partner Agnieszka Pasemik, who identified Mr Latek's body, that the absence of his mobile phone and rucksack - which had been seized by Surrey Police to be examined - were evidence that Mr Latek had been 'robbed and murdered'.

She argued his card had been used to withdraw money after his death and Mr Laurent was lying, though Mr Bedford stated there was no reason to doubt any of the evidence given or that Mr Laurent had 'any reason to exaggerate or make anything up'.

He believed it was likely Mr Latek had used his card himself on the morning of his death to withdraw cash.

He added Mr Latek's belongings had been returned to Ms Pasemik when his body was repatriated to Poland and she had not replied to Thames Valley Police's efforts to contact her through a Polish interpreter on December 17, after initially saying she planned to attend the inquest with a legal representative.