A 33-year-old gardener who tended the manicured lawns and flower beds on a businessman's £4million estate died after apparently handling a highly-poisonous plant, a coroner heard.
Nathan Greenaway was one of several staff employed at Millcourt House, in the exclusive Upper Froyle near Alton, Hampshire, which is owned by former venture capitalist Christopher Ogilvie Thompson and his wife Katherine.
The groundsman, from Aldershot, was experienced at looking after the gardens at the mansion but collapsed and died after apparently brushing against the deadly flower aconitum - also known as devil's helmet and monkshood - which was growing in the grounds.
A pre-inquest hearing in Basingstoke, Hampshire, was today told that Mr Greenaway died in hospital from multiple organ failure.
After mysteriously falling ill in September, the gardener was taken to hospital but despite frantic analysis of his blood, doctors were unable to diagnose him. He died of multiple organ failure five days later.
The coroner heard that it was only after his devastated father, Richard Greenaway, carried out hours of tireless research in an effort to find out what happened, that the link with the aconitum plant became apparent.
North Hampshire coroner Andrew Bradley heard a report from histopathologist Asmat Mustajab, who concluded it was 'more likely than not' that Mr Greenaway died after coming into contact with the deadly purple flowering plant.
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