A FIANCE told how he desperately tried to save his girlfriend with the kiss of life after he found her collapsed in the bath two days after they got engaged.

Although an inquest in Burnley was told Samantha Fogg, 22, of Selkirk Street, Burnley, had a history of epilepsy since she was a child, pathologist Dr Walid Salman said it was not possible to say whether she had suffered a fit prior to death because the fit left no medical signs.

He gave the cause of her death as "unascertained" but said: "I think there is a very high possibility that it was an epileptic fit. We have her condition of fits which have been witnessed by people. In my view this is the most likely cause."

Samantha got engaged to Shane Moore on March 25 and two days later he found her in the bath at the home they shared with her two children.

Shane said: "She had had a few epileptic fits when I was with her and on two occasions she dislocated her shoulder.

"She had about one fit a month and normally they were brought on because she was tired."

Shane returned home from work on March 27 and found the front door locked with the key behind the door.

Acting East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor read out a statement Mr Moore gave to police which said he had used his back door key to get in the house and found Samantha in the bath.

He lifted her out of the bath and put her on the floor and tried to resuscitate her and called an ambulance.

He told the coroner he believed if she hadn't been in the bath when she had the suspected fit she may have survived.

Samantha's mum Shirley, of Como Avenue, Burnley, said: "I knew if she had a fit in the bath she could have died. I have lived with this since she was six."

Mr Taylor recorded an open verdict saying: "We just don't know how she came by her death."

After the inquest Mrs Fogg and her son Kevin said the verdict was one they had expected and they understood why no cause could be given.

They also told how they face a £1,500 bill for Samantha's funeral and cremation and how they are in dire straits over how to pay it.

Mrs Fogg said: "Hargher Clough School where Samantha and Kevin attended have said they will try to help but I can't afford to pay it. They will just have to have the money over a long period of time."

Kevin said: "My mother gets just £56 a week and but the time she pays the bills and tries to have a life what is left?"