A PRESTATYN woman who was an alcoholic for many years, may have been dead at her home for about a month, an inquest heard.

The body of 57-year-old Susan Hill was eventually found when police and paramedics broke in after a friend and neighbour expressed concern they hadn’t seen her for some time.

She was certified dead on June 27 this year but her sister Lorenda Matthews told an inquest in Ruthin that she had last spoken to her about a month previously. It was not unusual, she said, for her sister not to answer the phone.

Mrs Matthews said she first had a drink problem in the 1970s and was particularly deeply affected by the death of her husband in 2001, after which her behaviour became erratic. In later years she became reclusive.

“She was a lovely girl but she was the only one who could herself, even though we tried,” she said.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mrs Hill, of Salisbury Drive, Prestatyn, showed signs of chronic alcohol abuse over a long period, and Joanne Lees, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, recorded a conclusion of an alcohol-related death.