A WOMAN died from pneumonia several months after falling down the stairs and breaking her neck.

An inquest heard that Joan Towneley, 74, fell down stairs at her home in Mellor Lane, Mellor, in January, last year.

The fall broke her neck, rendering her tetraplegic, and she moved to The Hollies Nursing and Residential Home in Clayton-le-Moors.

Mrs Towneley was admitted to Royal Blackburn Hospital on December 9 last year, where she died a day later.

Pathologist Dr Richard Prescott said the cause of Mrs Towneley’s death was aspiration pneumonia, caused by the original fall.

Coroner Michael Singleton recorded a verdict of accidental death.