TRIBUTES have been paid to a 22-year-old man who died seven years after suffering horrific head injuries in a car crash.

Nathan Ridge appeared to have made a full recovery after a collision at the Canford Bottom roundabout in 2009.

But a Bournemouth inquest heard he died of left ventricular failure as a result of post traumatic epilepsy.

Nathan, a self-employed maintenance man, was found dead in his bed at his family home in Edmondsham, near Verwood, by his father, Richard Ridge, on December 9 last year.

Speaking at the inquest into his son’s death, Mr Ridge described his son as a “quiet and private young man who didn’t like a fuss” and he added: “It was such a shock to find him.

“We had no warning and didn’t hear anything during the night. We were very proud of the man he had become. We were privileged to have him in our family.”

Nathan was one of four children and attended schools in Cranborne before moving on to QE in Wimborne.

The inquest heard he chose not to drive as a result of the crash in which he was injured on April 4 2009.

Assistant Dorset coroner Richard Middleton heard Nathan was airlifted to hospital at the age of 14 after a collision with a car as he attempted to cross Canford Bottom roundabout.

He was in a coma for 10 days and was discharged from hospital after five weeks of intensive treatment.

Since then his family believed he had made a full recovery and no one was aware of the epilepsy until a post mortem examination was carried out following his death.

Recording a narrative conclusion, Mr Middleton said: “Nathan Ridge died as a result of a naturally-occurring condition against a backdrop of epileptic episode arising from injuries sustained in a road traffic accident in 2009.”