A WOMAN who was found dead in her hotel room while on holiday died of natural causes, a coroner has concluded.

An inquest into the death of retired carer, Lesley Woodward, was heard at Warrington Coroner's Court on Monday after she died suddenly in the middle of a family holiday in Benidorm.

The 62-year-old, from Bewsey, suffered from a range of health problems, including type two diabetes, heart disease and chronic kidney disease, but had seemed her normal self in the run up to the holiday.

Speaking during the hearing, Mark Hanwright, the son of Lesley's partner, said: "We went on holiday together – she was fine, she was shopping for it and got all excited.

"For the first few days she was having a great time, we were going out for food and drinks."

After a couple of days, Lesley decided to stay in her hotel room as she didn't feel well and Mark described her as looking 'a bit out of it'.

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He added: "It was the next morning my dad came running to our room and said she was not waking up.

"She just looked like she was asleep, she was breathing."

Mark left the room but came back shortly, after having a feeling that something wasn't right, to find Lesley unresponsive.

Doctor Neil Forsdyke, from the Eric Moore Partnership Medical Practice in Bewsey, told the court how Lesley had been using a fentanyl patch as pain medication but was told to switch to morphine tablets because of the dangers associated with the patch.

The transition between the medications was to take place before she went on holiday but Lesley instead completed it when she was abroad and adhered to the 12-hour intervals between doses.

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This was backed up by Dr Jasna Krajacevic, pathologist at Warrington Hospital, who found low doses of morphine and other medication in Lesley's blood which were not consistent with an overdose.

She concluded that Lesley had an enlarged heart and fatty build-ups in her arteries which would have affected the flow of oxygen to her heart.

Heath Westerman, assistant coroner for Cheshire, recorded that Lesley died of natural causes as a result of ischaemic heart disease and coronary artery atheroma.