AN INQUEST has failed to solve the mystery of why a bride-to-be took a fatal cocktail of drugs and alcohol.

Denise Annette Rowe was found dead on the kitchen floor at her home in Mosley Street, Blackburn.

Both her mother and her fiance told an inquest in Blackburn that, though being treated for long-term depression, she was apparently happy at the time and looking forward to her wedding.

Recording an open verdict coroner Andre Rebello said: "There are unanswered questions which only Denise could reveal."

He fiance Melvyn Roberts said on the night before her death Denise had been with him at a club and had drunk three and a half pints of lager.

A post mortem showed she had more than twice that amount of alcohol in her system and Mr Roberts told the coroner he had no idea where or when she had obtained it. The post mortem report from Home Office pathologist John Rutherford added that Miss Rowe, 41, had taken an overdose of drugs including tranquilisers and anti-depressants which, with the alcohol, constituted a lethal amount.

In addition, part of the blister pack from one of the drugs was found in her stomach.

Miss Rowe's mother, Jean Fallon, of Lois Place, Blackburn, said her daughter had been taking drugs to combat depression for years but since meeting Mr Roberts had seemed really happy.

She told the coroner: "Everybody was devastated by her death. All her friends from school said she was in such high spirits the night before. She had arranged to meet one of them that day."

Mr Roberts said he last saw his fiancee alive just after midnight when they returned from the club. He found her dead in the kitchen of their home at 6am.

He said the couple had been living together since the New Year and had fixed a wedding date for December 7.

Mr Rebello said he did not believe Miss Rowe took her own life but the quantities of drugs and alcohol in her body ruled out a verdict of accidental death.

He added that he was concerned by the presence of part of a blister pack in her stomach.

Mr Rebello accepted the pathologist's view that the cause of death was a drug overdose but added: "There are many missing jigsaw pieces which only Denise could supply.

"Where did she get the alcohol from? What was she trying to do?"

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