A 74-year-old man fulfilled his dream of seeing a leopard in the days before he died, a Suffolk court heard.

On Friday, the inquest into the death of Andrew Slater was brought to a close at Suffolk Coroners’ Court in Ipswich.

Mr Slater died on October 27 last year.

The court heard that Mr Slater, who lived in Southampton, was a keen traveller.

Despite having been on safaris many times, the court was told that he had never seen a leopard before.

This dream was finally realised during Mr Slater’s final holiday to Zimbabwe, which ended with him taking a photograph of leopard.

However, Mr Slater’s health took a downward turn before his holiday had come to an end. He was taken to the Health Bridge Hospital in Victoria Falls, where he continued to deteriorate until he passed away.

Senior coroner for Suffolk Nigel Parsley found that Mr Slater had died from natural causes, having suffered a heart attack.