A HOTEL chef died after choking on her vomit, an inquest heard yesterday.

The hearing at Bishop Auckland, County Durham was told that Susan Bishoprick awoke just before 7am on September 14 and began vomiting and struggling to catch her breath.

Her fiancee, Noel Thompson, told the inquest she was making "gargling noises" and there was "obviously something in her throat".

He lay Ms Bishoprick on the floor in the recovery position and went to call an ambulance, which took 30 minutes to arrive.

Paramedics tried to clear Ms Bishoprick's throat before taking her to hospital, where she was put on a life-support machine.

The machine was switched off on September 21 when hospital doctors recorded an absence of brain activity.

The inquest had earlier been told how Ms Bishoprick, of Front Street, West Auckland, went on drinking binges, which lasted a few days, every couple of months.

She had been drinking a couple of days prior to the attack and had got up in the middle of the night, a few hours before she began vomiting, to eat a bowl of cereal.

Dr Clive Bloxham, consultant pathologist at Bishop Auckland General Hospital, said the primary cause of death was damage to the brain caused by lack of oxygen. He said a secondary cause of death was alcohol-related liver disease.

Mr Thompson asked Dr Bloxham if his fiancee's chances of survival would have been better if the ambulance had arrived earlier. Dr Bloxham replied: "Obviously the sooner she was attended to the better it would have been. It may not have made a difference."

Darlington and South West Durham Coroner Kenneth Howe recorded a verdict of accidental death.