A family returned from a wedding in October 2004 to discover a man hanging by his jumper from the top latch of a rear window, an inquest has heard.
James Ring (35) of Caherina Cottages, Tralee, died when his jumper got snagged on the latch of a window at Woodlands, Oak Park - a house that was not his - on October 17th, 2004, the inquest into his death heard in Tralee.
Dr Margot Bolster, Assistant State Pathologist, who carried out the postmortem, said she had found an irregular ligature mark on the left side of the neck, and the jumper had been partly pulled off.
Death would have been "very rapid" and much quicker than strangulation because of pressure on the nerve in the neck, she said.
Alcohol was not detected in the blood. There were a number of therapeutic prescribed drugs including a sedative.
The cause of death was acute cardio failure due to suspension by a cloth ligature, in this case the man's jumper, she found.
The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.
Tony O'Leary of Woodlands, Oak Park, Tralee, said he and his family returned from a wedding in Kilkenny on the afternoon of Sunday, October 17th, shortly before 3pm. Gardaí and medical services arrived, and the man was formally pronounced dead at 4.43pm.
He was last seen alive in the early hours, witnesses said.
Coroner Helen Lucey said it was a most unusual type of death. It might be described as misadventure but "our function here is to record the medical cause of death".