A ST Albans woman who tumbled down the stairs in her home died after suffering a traumatic head injury, an inquest heard last Wednesday.

Shirley Blake, aged 64, of Barnfield, Marshalswick, died at Watford Hospital on April 9 this year.

At an inquest, Herts Coroner Edward Thomas said that on the previous evening, Mrs Blake’s husband, who was upstairs, heard a crash from the staircase.

He immediately tried to revive his wife and called an ambulance.

The inquest heard that ambulance officers arrived to find him performing CPR on her.

Mr Thomas said that Mrs Blake was in a “very, very critical situation when she arrived at hospital” and it was discovered that she had suffered a serious injury to her brain.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death, following a traumatic injury to the head, as a result of falling while walking up the stairs.