Baldock death not connected to alcohol or drugs, inquest says as postmortem finds Baldock had a very large heart.
George Baldock died in pool accident with no drugs or alcohol involved, inquest finds.
According to the results of an inquest, George Baldock, a former professional football player, died in an accident in his personal swimming pool while under the influence of neither narcotics nor alcohol. When he passed away on October 9 of last year, the 31-year-old Greece international was residing in Athens following his recent signing with Panathinaikos.
Baldock spent most of his career playing as a defender for MK Dons and Sheffield United, having been born in Buckinghamshire, and had played a club fixture just three days before the event.
Drowning was confirmed as Baldock’s medical cause of death during an inquest held at Milton Keynes coroner’s court on Wednesday. Baldock had previously “tragically drowned” while swimming in his home pool, according to a statement from his family. Following the incident, Greek police conducted an investigation but were unable to uncover any proof of criminal involvement.
According to the inquest, attempts at resuscitation failed when Baldock was found in the swimming pool at his residence in the Glyfada neighbourhood of Athens on October 9. He had a very large heart “that would have meant that he was susceptible to heart arrhythmias,” which are conditions in which the heart beats too quickly, too slowly, or irregularly. A postmortem examination revealed that he was free of drugs and alcohol.
Milton Keynes’ senior coroner, Tom Osborne, came to the conclusion that Baldock’s death was an accident.
In the days following Baldock’s passing, tributes were given all over the nation, including by his former teams and during a Nations League game between England and Greece at Wembley, where both teams wore black armbands and the stadium observed a moment of silence.