AN ALCOHOLIC has died following a drinking spree -- just days after she was given an Anti-Social Behaviour Order to curb her drunken antics.

Marina O'Connor, 39, of George Street, Accrington, died on New Year's Eve after a long battle with alcohol.

Today her mother paid tribute to her daughter, who had been an aspiring model in her youth, but said that drink "got the better of her."

Doreen Coxhead, 62, of Livesey Branch Road, Blackburn, said: "She was a really good person but she got into drinking.

"In the end it got the better of her.

"She was very much loved and will be missed."

Mrs Coxhead said that her daughter had not started drinking until she was in her 30s and had suffered with ill-health over the last couple of years related to her alcohol abuse.

She added: "I don't know what happened to make her start drinking but it was when she was about 30.

"The group she was going around with were drinking and at first she only had a small amount.

"Her usual drink was White Lightning cider and she could drink two or three large three-litre bottles at a time.

"It upset us to see her appearance change so drastically.

"We could see what the alcohol was doing to her but she couldn't stop."

She was given the Anti-Social Behaviour Order after a string of complaints from neighbours in George Street that her home had become a centre for drink-fuelled trouble in the area.

Ms O'Connor leaves three children, Stephen, 21, Michael, 20 and Nicola 16. She also had two sisters, Lisa, 27 and Laura, 24.

She had been an aspiring model in her youth and life-long friend Dorothy McGregor said her drinking had "tragically scarred her."

Ms McGregor, who runs homeless charity Maundy Relief in Accrington, said: "She was a very warm and spiritual person, although she was not religious.

"She should have been a star, she was very talented and would have been X Factor material but the alcohol made her very ill."

PC Mick Walsh, community beat manager for the Spring Hill area of Accrington where Ms O'Connor lived, had been working with her in a bid to help her with her problems.

He was successful in securing the ASBO, which limited the people who could visit her home and limited her behaviour. It was made official by Hyndburn magistrates on December 20.

Problems in George Street had seen neighbours install CCTV systems outside their homes.

The inquest into the death of Ms O'Connor was adjourned yesterday and will continue on March 15.

Her funeral is at Accrington Crematorium Chapel tomorrow at 1.40pm.