A RETIRED hairdresser was found face-down in a Derbyshire canal by a cyclist.
Mary Gerrard's inquest heard that police were called to the Erewash Canal, in Long Eaton, after Dean Green, 20. saw her in the water at 7.30am on April 1.
The hearing was told that Mrs Gerrard had been drinking alone in the Harrington Arms pub and was last seen "unsteady on her feet" leaning against a bin on the canal path which is about 100 metres from her home in Regent Street.
She was pulled from the water and pronounced dead at Royal Derby Hospital.
A post mortem examination revealed no evidence that she had drowned and instead it is believed she either suffered "a heart episode" or died after being sent into shock as she landed in the water.
Dr Deidre McKenna, who carried out the post-mortem examination on the 64-year-old, said her blood contained 292 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
The legal drink-drive limit is 80.
Dr McKenna said: "The likely sequence of events is that her recent excessive alcohol intake in conjunction with underlying heart problems brought about her death.
"I did not find any evidence to support any cause of death as drowning."
Coroner Paul McCandless asked Dr McKenna: "Do you think she may have been dead before she hit the water?"
Dr McKenna replied: "I would say she was undergoing the process.
"I cannot rule out what we call 'dry drowning' where the immediate shock of hitting cold water can be a contributing factor to bringing about death.
"Given the recent excess alcohol intake the likelihood was that the cardiac event would cause her to end up in the water."
Dr McKenna gave the cause of death as recent excess alcohol consumption and the heart muscle disease cardiomyopathy.
PC Stacey Polydore told the inquest, at Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court, that she was called to the canal, by the Derby Road bridge at 7.40am on April 1.
She said that, when she arrived, Mr Dean and a second man were there on the path and officers pulled Mrs Gerrard's body from the water.
PC Polydore said: "The area was cordoned off while detectives made their inquiries.
"Witnesses said they saw Mrs Gerrard drinking alone on the Harrington Arms on the afternoon of March 31 and when she left she was unsteady on her feet.
"Another witness, who knew Mrs Gerrard, said she saw her on the canal path by the bridge leaning against a bin and smoking a cigarette.
"She also said she was unsteady on her feet and a third witness said he too saw her on the canal path and she was stumbling."
The inquest heard how Mrs Gerrard's body was formally identified by her son Lee Gerrard, who lives in Ilkeston.
Mr McCandless reached a conclusion that Mrs Gerrard died as a result of an accident.
