A 60-YEAR-old woman died of acute alcohol poisoning while visiting her ex-husband in Edgworth, near Darwen.

And an inquest heard that Astrid Wilding had a blood alcohol level five-and-a-quarter times the permitted level for driving.

Mrs Wilding died at the home of her ex-husband Derek who told the inquest that she stayed with him most weekends and that they spoke on the phone every night.

He said that on the night of her death they had two glasses of wine in a pub before going to his house in Blackburn Road, Edgworth, for a meal. Mr Wilding said they had a vodka and tonic before the meal and a bottle of wine.

"I don't know if she had another drink while she was in the kitchen," said Mr Wilding.

Mrs Wilding, of Alder Lane, Parbold, Wigan, had gone to bed and left Derek watching television. Later on he heard a bump and went to the bedroom to find Mrs Wilding on the floor. "She was just sat there and had obviously had a few drinks," said Mr Wilding.

"I just thought she had had a few too many and would sleep it off. Whether she had a few more drinks that I had not seen I don't know, but I never saw her drinking after that meal."

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Andre Rebello said the post-mortem examination had shown Mrs Wilding was not used to drinking alcohol.

"Purely and simply on that day she drank a fatal amount of alcohol," said Mr Rebello.

"The drinking would have been intentional but it would not have been with the intention of taking her own life."

The post mortem report by Home Office pathologist Dr John Rutherford showed a blood alcohol reading of 423 against a legal driving limit of 80. The report said that level was in the fatal range.

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