AN auxiliary nurse spent her final moments biting her wrists in a desperate attempt to stay awake as she froze to death on snow-covered playing fields only yards from her home.

A coroner's inquest into the death of Shelley Whitfield heard yesterday how the combined effects of five glasses of wine, prescribed medication and bitterly cold winter weather left her disorientated as she made her way home in Brandon, County Durham, after a day out with a friend.

As hypothermia began to set in and the 21-year-old became increasingly disorientated and confused, she shed her overcoat and the mobile phone she could have used to call for help and bit her own wrists to try to revive herself.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, North Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle said: "It is a most tragic set of circumstances."

The inquest at Chester-le-Street Magistrates' Court heard evidence from Dr James Sunter that a post- mortem examination had discovered 147 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - less than double the drink-driving limit - and gave the cause of death as hypothermia.

Miss Whitfield's friend, Dean Johnson, from the Barmston area of Washington, told the hearing that, on February 28, the pair had spent around four hours in The Water House pub in North Road and that she had drunk about five large glasses of white wine.

He told the inquest: "She didn't seem drunk in the slightest, she was walking straight and talking normally."

They went their separate ways at about 6pm and, as snow began to fall, Miss Whitfield tried to catch a bus to her home, in St Agatha's Close.

Bus driver Gregory Dodds told the hearing that had she waited another ten minutes, Miss Whitfield could have caught a bus which went directly to her door.

Rather than wait, she decided to get on the X49 service, but missed her stop and got off near Meadowfield Sports Centre - a ten-minute walk home in the dark across open playing fields.

Police believe she had tried to go straight home, but was overcome by the conditions.

Her snow-covered body was found shortly before 7am the following day, about 500 metres from her home by a man walking his dog