Mum had taken fatal dose

April Allgaier, 57, had struggled with addiction to prescription drugs for more than 30 years, Blackpool Coroner’s Court was told.

PC Deaglan MacCormaic told how Ms Allgaier had been found dead at the foot of the stairs of her flat on Whalley Place, St Annes, at 1pm on Saturday, June 28.

Staff in the hair and beauty salon below raised the alarm when they heard her dog barking incessantly.

Ms Allgaier had last been seen by a neighbour at 11pm on Thursday, June 26.

Toxicology tests showed she had been three and a half times the drink drive limit and had also taken a potentially fatal dose of dothiepin.

Blackpool and Fylde coroner Alan Wilson, said the combination of the two may have affected her behaviour.

A post-mortem examination revealed Ms Allgaier had died due to trauma to the brain, but that she had also had liver disease and pancreatitis, which both could have proved fatal and were accepted as contributory factors by Mr Wilson.

Ms Allgaier’s daughter, Susan Thomas, told the court she had little contact with her mum due to her drinking and abuse of tablets including diazepam and temazepam.

“She took them like sweets all the way through my life,” said Miss Thomas, who added that her mum, who was unemployed, had attempted to take her own life two or three years earlier.

Mr Wilson said he was satisfied there was no evidence Ms Allgaier had intended to kill herself, and recorded a verdict of accidental death.