Berryhill woman died after after being trapped between stairlift and wall
A 55-YEAR-OLD woman died when she became wedged between her stairlift and a wall after she tripped on the stairs while drunk, an inquest heard.
Shirley Perkins was discovered at home in Tiverton Road, Berryhill, on June 27.
The former potbank worker was found with her head trapped by her daughter Claire Perkins, who was picking her up for a shopping trip.
The inquest, held at Hartshill yesterday, heard how Miss Perkins struggled to walk and had problems with her breathing, but chose to walk up the stairs instead of using her stairlift.
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Miss Perkins's daughter, Claire, of Barks Drive, Norton said: "Her health was neither good nor bad, but she was well enough to look after my son.
"She had fallen down the stairs about five years ago and we still don't know how that happened, but she was in a coma for four months.
"After the fall, she wasn't very good. It was more her breathing than anything else but she could still do her shopping.
"She used to tell me if she used her stairlift she would lose the use of her legs, so she didn't go on it very often.
"Mum wasn't an alcoholic but she did have three or four bottles of wine a week.
"I would go round in the day and thought she had had a drink, but when I asked her she said she hadn't.
"With her falling down the stairs, I assumed she had been drinking, but there was not a lot of drink in the house at the time when she died."
A post-mortem found Miss Perkins's blood-alcohol content was 360ml per decilitre – four-and-a-half times the drink drive limit.
PC Alan Rossi, of Longton Police, described how he found Miss Perkins on the stairs.
He said: "There was a stairlift and the lady was positioned between the back of it and the wall, with her neck resting on the seat.
"She was wedged in and I think anyone would struggle to get out of that position.
"There was nothing on the stairs and there was nothing out of place, it just seemed as if she had fallen.
"There was an unopened bottle of wine in the living room but there were no glasses."
North Staffordshire Coroner Ian Smith confirmed that Miss Perkins died from asphyxia as a result of the fall and acute alcohol intoxication.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Smith said: "The deceased had a history of alcohol abuse and was last seen alive around 6.30pm on June 26.
"It is very difficult to say when she died but I think everyone excepts it was a fall.
"She would have been very intoxicated and my verdict is one of accidental death.
"It was an accident in terms of a fall or a trip but I have no doubt alcohol has played some part in what happened to her."
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