A DISTRAUGHT husband today spoke of the sex abuse nightmare which tormented his wife and ended with her dying after sniffing gas to blot out her past.

Thomas Cummings opened his heart after an inquest was told Dawn Cummings was sexually abused by her father when she was a child -- and her mother had known about it.

The hearing was told that the "doting" mother-of-three withdrew into herself and relapsed into inhaling lighter fuel to blot out her tragic past.

The 34-year-old, of Percival Street, Darwen, was found dead in her room in a Blackburn hostel with a can of butane by her side and another 26 empty cans in the cupboard.

Today her parents denied the sex abuse allegations.

The inquest heard how, helped by her devoted husband, Dawn had overcome her addiction to butane and propane which she had blamed on her childhood abuse.

But the news that her mother had been aware of the prolonged abuse hit her hard. Thomas said Dawn argued with her mother in May and shortly after he began to suspect she was inhaling butane again. She died on July 2.

He said: "The depression goes way back to what happened when she was a child. When I met her nine years ago she was suffering from depression and as a result was addicted to inhaling butane gas."

"In May she had an argument with her mother and that's what triggered it off again. I began to suspect she was using butane again. She just wanted to forget everything."

He said that in mid-June he found her lying on the settee inhaling gas. After a fall Mrs Cummings had to go to Blackburn Royal Infirmary. But when she left she did not return home and instead went to the YWCA in Blackburn.

"I had no idea why she did that," said Mr Cummings. "She was blanking me out and wouldn't tell me anything."

Dorothy Wilkinson, deputy manager of the YWCA, revealed: "She told me about her past and that she had been sexually abused by her father.

"She said she had recently found out that her mother had always known. It had set her back and she said she found it very difficult to come to terms with.

"She was struggling to come to terms with how and why life could have given her such a raw deal. The information she received from her mother had been very traumatic for her.

"At the same time, she was feeling very guilty that she was putting Thomas through so much heartache," said Mrs Wilkinson. "She clearly loved him and the children."

A post-mortem examination revealed that she had died as a result of inhaling butane and propane.

After the hearing, Thomas told how his life had been torn apart by the death of his wife at a time when they had so much to look forward to. He revealed that the couple were planning to have a fourth child.

"We were happy together right from the beginning and although she had a problem we knew we could beat it together," said Thomas, who still lives in the family home with the couple's sons, aged four and two, and 15-month-old daughter.

"Right at the beginning of our relationship Dawn told me everything that had happened to her as a child and we had no secrets."

Recording a verdict of misadventure deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said she had heard a sad tale of a lady who had suffered from depression for a long time as a result of events that happened in her childhood.

She said: "Through the love and care of her husband she was able to get rid of that part of her life but, because of more recent traumatic information, that depression returned so severely that she found the need to go back to using lighter fluid."

Mrs Singleton said there was nothing to suggest that Dawn had intended to take her own life. "This was a lady who loved her husband and children very much and they have my deepest sympathy," said Mrs Singleton.

Parents refute sex abuse claims

THE PARENTS of Dawn Cummings have denied she suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father as a child.

Dawn's mum, 59, and from Darwen, said: "When I told Dawn in May I knew what had gone on when she was a child I didn't know about anything sexual . . . I do not believe these allegations against my ex-husband for one minute. It is partly my fault that Dawn has made these allegations because of a misunderstanding, but I'd rather not say why."

And Dawn's father, who split from her mother when their daughter was seven, said today from his home in Ebbw Vale, South Wales: "I refute these allegations as they are completely unfounded She was always an attention seeker but now she has got the attention for all the wrong reasons.

"She was also addicted to these substances when she was a child."

Dawn's mother, who is now remarried, said her daughter had telephoned her on the Sunday before her death. "She told me she was in trouble -- she had a lot of money worries -- and said I'd do anything I could to help. The next thing I knew the police were telling me she was dead."