WALTER Swinburn died as a result of a head injury he sustained after falling from an upstairs window into a courtyard, a coroner has ruled.

The 55-year-old passed away in December and at the time no details were made public other than he had been suffering from epilepsy.

An inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court heard that although Swinburn had epilepsy, it was not possible to establish whether this had contributed to the fall which happened on December 12th in Belgravia, central London.

A coroner’s officer reported that Swinburn had fallen from his bathroom window. The drop was estimated at about 12 feet, and it was into a courtyard.

Whether or not he had an epileptic fit which caused him to fall was not possible to determine.

Swinburn was just 19 when he rode Shergar to win the 1981 Epsom Derby, a race he later won aboard Shahrastani (1986) and Lammtarra (1995).

He retired in 2000 and in 2004 he took over the training licence from his father-in-law, Peter Harris.

Swinburn sent out over 260 winners from his Hertfordshire base before handing in his licence at the end of October 2011, citing financial reasons.