AN 85-year-old Great Harwood woman died after falling down cellar steps at a care home where she had gone for respite care.

An inquest heard that the door leading to the basement wash-room was secured by a bolt which would have been well within the reach of Frances Lillian Mayor. But deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said it remained a mystery why Mrs Mayor had opened the door in the first place.

Mrs Mayor, of Haydock Square, Great Harwood, went into St Hubert's Lodge rest home in May after a short spell in Burnley General Hospital with a skin complaint. Her son Peter Mayor, of Clayton Street, Great Harwood, said his wife, who normally visited his mum three or four times a day, had also been in hospital and was not able to look after her mother-in-law at that time. Mr Mayor said his mother, a retired weaver, had been quite happy to spend some time in the home where she knew other residents. They had visited together and a risk assessment and care plan had been drawn up.

Care assistant Ruth Joseph told how she started her night duty at 10pm on May 9 and Mrs Mayor was sitting in the TV lounge. At about 10.20pm she got up and said she was going to the toilet. Miss Joseph said she spoke to Mrs Mayor when she came back and she said she had a bit of tummy ache and was going back to the toilet. Minutes later she heard a crash and initially went to the toilet. "I heard her shouting for help and the only other door was the cellar," said Miss Joseph. "Lillian was at the bottom of the steps."

The proprietor of the rest home, Ian Cardwell, said the establishment was subject to the standards imposed by the National Care Standards Commission which carries out one un-announced, and two announced inspections, each year. He said he had never been told to change the bolt on the cellar door until after Mrs Mayor's death and the door was now controlled by a key pad lock.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, deputy coroner Mrs Singleton said the last person to enter the cellar was adamant that she had bolted the door. "That was her routine, it was what she was told she must do and I have no reason to doubt that the door was bolted," said Mrs Singleton.

"The one question that remains totally unanswered is why Mrs Mayor went to that door at all. Whether she was in some kind of pain or whether she became disorientated in her anxiety to get back to the toilet, we do not know."

The medical cause of death was bronchopneumonia as a result of multiple injuries.