Sompting woman died after falling from bed while intoxicated

A preschool manager from Sompting died after falling from her bed while under the influence of alcohol, an inquest has found.
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Tina Olliver, 59, was found dead at her home in White Styles Road, Sompting, on Saturday, December 15.

An inquest into her death, held at Crawley Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, heard that Ms Olliver was a ‘heavy drinker’.

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Her daughter, Kimberly, said in a statement that Ms Olliver had been admitted to hospital for a liver issue ten years ago but had refused to go to rehab.

The inquest was held at Crawley Coroner's CourtThe inquest was held at Crawley Coroner's Court
The inquest was held at Crawley Coroner's Court

However, Ms Olliver had told Kimberly that she was attending alcoholics anonymous meetings.

Kimberly last saw her mother on Friday, December, 7, and said she appeared ‘fine and in high spirits’, according to the statement.

But the following Saturday, Kimberly contacted police after her mother, who had been due to visit her, had not arrived.

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Police attended Ms Olliver’s home at 7pm and found her lying on the bedroom floor ‘as if she had fallen off the bed’.

She was ‘bent awkwardly’ and there were two empty bottles of wine beside her, the inquest heard.

A post mortem found the cause of death to be acute alcohol intoxication and postural asphyxia, the inquest heard.

A toxicology report revealed the levels of ethanol in Ms Olliver’s blood to be 330ml per 100ml, which was noted to be lower than the amount usually associated with death on its own.

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Penelope Schofield, West Sussex senior coroner, said Ms Olliver had fallen off the bed while under the influence of alcohol and, unable to recover from the fall, had susbsequently asphyxiated.

She concluded an accidental death while under the influence of alcohol.

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