A RETIRED teacher from Kinver died after falling down the stairs at home due to the effects of alcohol and an antidepressant drug, an inquest was told.

Maureen Hogan was found at the bottom of the stairs at her home in Stone Lane on Thursday April 30, after neighbours became concerned - having noticed the curtains still closed.

Paramedics were called but she was found to have passed away.

The 68-year-old divorcee had told friends she had been feeling weak and suffering from shortness of breath of late, Black Country Coroner's Court was told at an inquest into her death on Monday September 7.

Senior coroner for the Black Country, Zafar Siddique, speculated she may have been concentrating on an iPad which was found in her hand or her dog may have got under her feet causing her to fall.

But he said Mrs Hogan, who lived alone, had been three times over the legal drinking limit and had also taken the antidepressant sertraline which the coroner said could have given rise to toxic effects such as dizziness.

The medical cause of death was given as sertraline toxicity, plus high levels of alcohol and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), and the coroner said: "There's no suggestion she's taken an overdose; where she was found seems to suggest this was an accident."

He offered his "deepest condolences" to Mrs Hogan's family as he recorded a short narrative conclusion that a combination of alcohol and sertraline had resulted in a fall and accidental death.

Mrs Hogan's son Paul Davies said his mother had suffered from depression all her life but she was a "fighter" and had been a keen supporter of charities including Save the Children and Amnesty International.

He said she was "very strong willed" and "had a very, very good sense of humour".