A nurse died from a tragic accident after a night in with her husband

A former NHS nurse fell to her death down a flight of stairs after she and her husband drank four bottles of wine, a bottle of Prosecco, beer and port between them during a night in together.

Paula Jefferies, 55, is thought to have lost her footing and hit her head as she went to bed.

Her husband Robert found her at the bottom of the stairs at their home in Newall Green, Manchester, when he woke up the following morning.

Emergency services were called to the scene but were unable to save Mrs Jefferies who suffered a fatal head injury.

An inquest heard the mother of two had herself consumed two bottles of white wine, half a bottle of Prosecco and two glasses of port with her dinner in the hours before the tragedy.

Tests showed she would have been more than twice the alcohol limit for driving and a coroner said it was usually a 'luck of the draw' whether people who fell down the stairs could pick themselves up.

Government health officials recommend men and women who drink regularly should consume no more than six pints of beer or seven glasses of wine in a week.

Paula had recently retired and had spent eight weeks abroad with her husband prior to her death (Paula Jefferies/ Cavendish Press)

The accident occurred on May 13 last year just weeks after Mrs Jefferies described as a ''lovely lady who always had a smile'' had only just retired from her job as a lead nurse in Bolton after 37 years working in healthcare.

Mr Jefferies a gardener told the Manchester hearing: “She did every diet under the sun you name it she did it.

“She retired on her birthday we were out of the country eight or nine weeks then she went back two or three days a week. She was just helping them out as the practice had some issues.

“We were at home and had a home cooked meal. I had three bottles of Budweiser, two bottles of red wine, and half a bottle of Prosecco, she had two bottles of white wine, half a bottle of Prosecco and two glasses of port.

“I would say we were both drunk - it was regular for a weekend.  It was about half past twelve she was in the kitchen texting, she said to me she would be up shortly so I left her to it but she never came upstairs.

Paula, pictured with her husband Robert, had drunk wine, prosecco and port on the night before she died (Paula Jefferies/ Cavendish Press)

''I think I woke up at 6:40am and I went downstairs and she was just there at the bottom of the stairs.

“That was the first time I saw her. Laid across horizontally at the bottom of the stairs, her head was at one end and her feet were at the other. There was some blood at the bottom of the stairs.

“I phoned the emergency services straight away; the response came first then the ambulance service came.

A post-mortem revealed Mrs Jefferies had suffered a significant head injury. She had 190 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The alcohol limit for driving is 80mg.

Recording a conclusion of accidental death Coroner Nigel Meadows said: “Apart from some findings of alcohol there were no other drugs or medicines to be detected.

“The position of the blood on either side of the stairs seems consistent with her having a fall down for some distance.

Paula had worked as a nurse for 37 years (Paula Jefferies/ Cavendish Press)

“Sometimes it is impossible to tell when somebody dies because there isn’t any evidence. It would have happened in between you going to bed and waking up, I would have thought in the very early hours going up to bed.

“All the evidence is consistent with her having a fall down the stairs, what she was doing you will never know.

“People have falls in their home all the time, trip over their feet and slip, she could have lost her footing and because of the amount of alcohol in her system had some difficulties.

“She tripped or in some other way lost her footing and that caused her to fall down the stairs. It is sometimes luck of the draw for people to fall down the stairs and pick themselves up - sadly it is the vagaries of life.''

In 2009 Mrs Jefferies successfully sued an Indian restaurant after she stumbled in her high heels and broke her ankle as she lost her footing on a concrete ramp following her meal to celebrate her daughter's 12th birthday.

She went on to develop a potentially life-threatening blood clot on her lung as a result of being left immobile .

She was subsequently awarded compensation running into tens of thousands of pounds after she blamed her fall on the concrete ramp at the restaurant's entrance, saying it was dangerous because of its steeply sloping sides. 

A judge ruled the slope was a 'trap for the unwary' because it failed to extend across the full width of the door and because its sides were 'too steep'.