A WOMAN who fell and hit her head died three days later, an inquest heard yesterday.

Bernadette Hall, 36, fell at her home in Myton-on-Swale, near Boroughbridge, on August 20 last year.

Her husband, William, took her to York District Hospital, where she was x-rayed and given stitches before being discharged.

Mr Hall, 40, told yesterday's hearing, in Northallerton, that his wife had gone to sleep on the bathroom floor the day after the fall. He did not want to disturb her, so covered her with blankets. The next morning she began coughing blood and was rushed back to hospital, but died the next day.

Home office pathologist Dr Peter Cooper said death was due to a large bleed on her brain. He said: "It is not uncommon for that bleeding to take quite a while to become apparent. People are lulled into a false sense of security and the bleed starts to accumulate."

Verdict: accidental death.