INVESTIGATIONS are still continuing into a tragic accident where a young woman died after falling down the cellar steps of a Preston pub.

Health and safety chiefs are interviewing witnesses and inspecting The Stone Cottage pub, Shaw Street, after Claire Birtwistle was found lying at the bottom of the stairs.

It is believed the 20-year-old from Bamber Bridge mistook the cellar door for the door to the toilets and fell just after closing time on Friday night (February 7).

The door had previously been kept locked but thieves smashed the lock during a raid. Pub landlady Susan Shaw said: "We had a lock for the door which was waiting to be put on. The previous lock had been broken off in a break-in."

An inquest into Claire's death opened on Tuesday (February 11) and was adjourned to a later date.

A spokeswoman for the Preston Council's Environmental Health Department said: "Whether the door was locked or not it will be part of our investigations.

"It will be central to our investigations because obviously if it was locked there would have been a different outcome. It's at a very early stage. We have yet to finalise who is responsible."

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