A WOMAN who was found dead at her Accrington home died after fracturing her ribs and contracting pneumonia, an inquest heard.

Care assistant, Stacey Marie Nicole Bleasdale, was discovered by police officers lying across her bed at her address in Richmond Street, Accrington, on November 15 last year.

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Next to the bed was a mop bucket containing brown fluid which “could have been vomit” and suspected drug paraphernalia and there was bruising to parts of her body, the inquest heard.

The death was initially believed to be suspicious and the inquest heard Miss Bleasdale’s partner Paul Wright had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Subsequent investigations found that no offence had occurred and no action was taken against Mr Wright.

He told the inquest that on November 10 just a few days before her death, Miss Bleasdale had got drunk on vodka and fallen against furniture at her home and had been in pain the following day.

He said he got her painkillers but ‘they weren’t working’.

He said: “She was in a lot of pain. She knew they (her ribs) were broken but said there was nothing she could do. They take six weeks to heal she said.

“I didn’t know she was going to die.”

The inquest heard that on the morning of Sunday, November 15 he awoke to find Miss Bleasdale cold in the bed next to him and called the emergency services.

Forensic pathologist, Charles Wilson, said the 35-year-old had 48mg of alcohol in her system compared with a driving limit of 80mg which he described as ‘a low level’.

A postmortem showed Miss Bleasdale was suffering from pneumonia, multiple rib fractures and bruising.

Miss Bleasdale’s bones showed signs of osteoporosis which Mr Wilson said is often seen in alcohol dependent people due to a poor diet.

He said: “Her ribs fractured more easily than the bones of a health woman of comparative age.”

He did not find evidence of previous rib fractures, the inquest heard.

The cause of death was given as lobar pneumonia with secondary factors of multiple rib fractures and alcohol dependency syndrome.

Miss Bleasdale had a history of alcohol dependent syndrome since 2012 but had not recently received any medical treatment for it, the inquest heard.

Senior coroner for Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, Michael Singleton, returned a conclusion of accidental death adding that the fall and the subsequent rib fractures “compromised her ability to breathe freely such that she developed lobar pneumonia from which she died.”