Nurse died after she drank disinfectant

St Albans Coroner's Court heard on Monday that Ms Anne Lesley Bardell, 37, a known alcoholic, died on Saturday, April 8, this year at her home in Riverside Road.

She was found by her partner of four years, Mr Nicholas Allen, on her bed after he went round to her house, concerned that he was getting no reply to his phone calls.

He had spoken to her the previous Saturday, trying to arrange an evening out with friends in Oxford, but she said she was too ill and had to cancel.

Mr Allen told the inquest: 'She didn't sound drunk at the time, although I was a little suspicious as she had used the same excuse before.

' I did wonder whether she had been drinking.

'I trusted her that she was okay.'

When he drove over from Oxford to see her on the following Wednesday, April 5, she was very drunk.

'It was obvious she had been on a binge for several days at that stage,' he said.

'She was very ashamed.

'She wasn't too drunk to be incoherent when I saw her but she was full of remorse.'

She refused his help when he tried to contact the GP and take her to hospital.

When he spoke to her the next morning, he said she sounded low but she had come out of her drinking binge.

'She would not feel good for another day, but she seemed to be on the mend,' he said.

He tried to reach her on Thursday, but got no reply, and became concerned the next day when there was still no reply.

When he went round to her house on Saturday, he could not get into the house even though he had a key and went to St Albans Police Station for help.

Two officers arrived at 1.40pm and they broke in through the front door, and Mr Allen found Ms Bardell lying dead on her bed.

A post-mortem examination revealed she died from drinking the disinfectant combined with the large amounts of alcohol she had drunk.

Mr Allen said: 'She was a lovely, vivacious woman.

'She was very funny and a sharp sense of humour; a real life-force.

'Everyone who knew her thought very highly of her.

'I have never known her to talk about ending her life.

'Sometimes, coming out of a drinking binge, she would despair that she always would be like that.

'She had a huge caseload and it just got bigger.'

Coroner Edward Thomas said Ms Bardell never intended to kill herself and she only drank the disinfectant to satisfy her craving for alcohol.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.