JOYCE Stubbens died as a result of a freak accident while playing cricket with her grandson. An inquest heard that the sprightly 70-year-old stumbled as she made a run in her back garden.

She fell on to the bat handle and the force of the blow caused a massive increase in blood pressure which ruptured blood vessels in her abdomen.

After the inquest Mrs Stubbens' son Anthony described his mother as a devoted grandma who lived life to the full.

The inquest heard that Mrs Stubbens lived at Carlton Place, Clitheroe, with her partner Harry Fielding. They and her grandson, Adam, 11, went out into the back garden to play cricket. They took it in turns to bat and bowl and Adam bowled a ball to his grandma which she hit.

As Mr Fielding went to get the ball he heard Mrs Stubbens cry out and turned to see her lying face down on the grass with the cricket bat underneath her. "She was running a run when she tripped," said Mr Fielding. "The bat wedged against the floor and her stomach."

He told how he managed to get Mrs Stubbens, who was in a great deal of pain, inside and on to the settee. There was already discolouration and bruising around her abdomen and he sent for the ambulance. She died in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Consultant surgeon Roy Nicholson said there had been an "explosion" in the blood system. Mrs Stubbens was given 30 pints of blood as the surgeons fought to stem the flow but she eventually suffered a cardiac arrest.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Michael Singleton said Mrs Stubbens had simply been enjoying the normal things that grandparents do with their grandchildren. "What happened then is not only a tragic accident but an almost unique set of circumstances that could not have been anticipated or prevented." The medical cause of death was haemorrhagic shock as a result of blunt force injury.