THE mother of a young woman who died in her sleep hours after being hypnotised in a Leyland pub has lost her battle for a fresh inquest into her daughter's death.

Margaret Harper, aged 52, launched a nationwide campaign for a ban on stage hypnosis shows after her 25-year-old daughter Sharron Tabarn died in September 1993.

She had been put in a trance by hypnotist Andrew Vincent at the Roebuck Pub and told she would wake up to a 10,000 volt electric shock.

Lancashire coroner Howard McCann recorded a verdict that she died of natural causes after hearing how Sharron's heart stopped due to congestion in the lungs from inhalation of vomit.

Mrs Harper challenged the verdict, believing the hypnosis was linked to the tragedy because Sharron was terrified of electricity.

But Lord Justice Simon Brown, in a High Court hearing in London on Tuesday, rejected the challenge and said: "It is now time to draw a line under this tragic case."

The judge said nothing could be achieved by ordering a fresh inquest. He said: "Any jury, properly directed, would conclude that Sharron's death was probably the result of some kind of fit unprompted by hypnosis."

He added that a Home Office enquiry had already investigated the importance of Sharron's death in the wider context of stage hypnosis as a whole, after Mrs Harper founded the Campaign Against Stage Hypnotism.

Mrs Harper, of Station Road, Hesketh Bank, was not in court for the judgement.

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