A WINCHESTER woman died after falling and hitting her head when she tripped over her walking stick, an inquest heard.

Rosemary Brewer fell from her bed at her home at Gratton Close, Sutton Scotney on September 9, banging her head on a chest of drawers after tripping over her walking aid.

The 84-year-old retired secretary, known as Rose, would have celebrated 60 years of marriage to husband George in December.

Senior Central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short heard how Mrs Brewer had had both her hips replaced and was suffering with an untreatable hernia before she died, which limited her mobility.

Mr Brewer told the hearing his wife had gone up to bed after the first half of a football match to read in bed.

He’d tucked her in after watching the second half, before retiring himself.

“There was this almighty crash,” he said.

“She was laid on the floor with her head against the side board. I said ‘what happened’ and she said she tripped on her walking stick which was on the floor but those were the only words I got from her at all.”

Mrs Brewer quickly lost consciousness before the ambulance took her to Southampton General Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

A post mortem concluded that she had suffered a severe head injury.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Short said: “I think that it’s quite clear from what I have heard that, in the early hours on September 9, Mrs Brewer sustained an unwitnessed fall.

“She died as a consequence of the internal bleeding of a severe head injury. I’d like to give my sympathy to the family. To lose her so suddenly must have been a shock to you all.”