A POST-MORTEM examination was last night being carried out on a woman who bled to death after a knife she was carrying severed a main artery in her neck when she apparently slipped on a kitchen floor.

Police and environmental health officers are trying to establish exactly what happened when 51-year-old care worker Linda Hayes died at the County Durham nursing home, where she worked.

They also want to find out whether a detergent dispenser, which was being installed by an engineer at the time, played a part in the tragedy which unfolded in front of Mrs Hayes' 19-year-old daughter Janet.

It happened about 10am on Thursday at the Brockwell Court nursing home, in Cobden Street, Consett.

A police spokesman said: "The injuries were caused by a knife but it is not quite clear exactly how the injuries came about."

Mrs Hayes was declared dead on arrival at Durham's University Hospital.

Norris Oyston, head of Derwentside District Council environmental health, said last night: "We are co-operating with the police in investigating the circumstances surrounding the tragedy."

Mrs Hayes lived in the nearby village of Leadgate with her husband, Jim, and their two daughters, Janet and Sandra, said to be in her 20s.

The family has been too upset to talk of the incident.

The coroner will open the inquest on Tuesday.