A man with dementia who went missing from his home was found dead by a paperboy on a building site, an inquest heard.

John Mustchin, 81, a retired butcher of Grove Crescent, Littlehampton, told his wife he was going home to his mother when he left their home on the night of January 11.

But Mr Mustchin's mother had died some years previously, the Worthing hearing was told.

The paperboy, who was 15, first saw him the following morning but thought it was a builder asleep on the site at Court Wick Lane in Littlehampton.

The following morning, on the same round, he saw him again and went home and told his father who called the police.

Michael Mustchin confirmed his father had gone missing a few times in the past but they had always found him. He added: "His memory didn't go beyond about 1930. Who knows what was in his mind that night or where he had been before?

"When he got in that sort of mood he believed it was still 1928 and he was going home to his mother."

Dr Jeremy Grant, a consultant pathologist at Worthing Hospital, said Mr Mustchin had died of hypothermia and had injuries consistent with trying to get up off the ground.

West Sussex coroner Dr Roger Stone said: "I'm entirely satisfied there's no evidence of any suspicious element. He could have fallen at some stage and maybe the fall itself rendered him unable to know where he was and he succumbed to cold and hypothermia, contributed to by heart disease."

A verdict of accidental death was recorded.