A JOINER who plunged 20ft from a Hyndburn building site when scaffolding collapsed has died.

Peter Walton, 55, never regained consciousness after suffering severe head injuries when scaffolding he was working on at Altham Business Park collapsed on May 10.

He died in the arms of his wife Christine, 52, and surrounded by close family and friends, at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on Friday.

Accrington CID and the Health and Safety Executive have launched a joint investigation into his death.

The father-of-two and grandfather-of-four, of Thornton Cleveleys, was described by his wife of nearly 18 years as "a big man who was liked by everyone".

She said the five-and-a-half weeks he had been in a coma had been "extremely difficult".

She said: "I wouldn't wish what we have been through on my worst enemy.

"We had always been told that he had massive brain injury.

"At one stage he was blinking when I asked him to.

"He came off life support and he was breathing on his own with oxygen."

She had been playing his favourite music, including opera singer Russell Watson, to try and bring him out of his coma.

But Mrs Walton, who has been at her husband's beside every day since the accident, got a call from the hospital on Thursday night to say that his condition had deteriorated.

He died the following day.

She said: "I told him every night before I left that I loved him and not to go until I got back the next day.

"He died in my arms and with his family and close friends around him, which is how he would have wanted it."

Mr Walton, who had two children from an earlier marriage, Stuart, 33, and Nicola, 32, had trained as a joiner, but then worked for British Gas for more than 25 years.

After taking early retirement from the company two years ago he went back to working as a self-employed joiner.

He had been working on the new Mercury Rise office complex in Altham for a few months before the accident happened.

Mrs Walton said: "I always worried about him going up on roofs, but he was a very careful person. He knew all about health and safety.

"You don't expect scaffolding to collapse. I have spoken to people he was working with at the time who have told me basically what happened, but we won't have any closure until the investigation is over."

Mr Walton was working for Poulton le Fylde-based New Look Construction at the site.

Glen Mill Group Developments are running the site.

Detective Inspector Ian Critchley said: "The police are investigating with the Health and Safety Executive.

"We will be interviewing people from the companies involved."

A Home Office pathologist is due to carry out a post mortem examination later today.