A LANDLADY who went to bed with a virus died within hours, an inquest heard.
Lynne Marie Haycocks was just 44 when she was found dead in her pub, The George and Dragon in Ael Y Bryn, Brymbo, with no evidence of how she had died.
An inquest in Mold heard she was found on her bed on July 24 last year and, according to Nicola Jones, deputy coroner for North East Wales, it was “not obvious at first what caused her death”.
However, with the help of toxicology and histology results detailed in the post mortem, Ms Jones determined Mrs Haycocks had died of natural causes.
The coroner told members of Mrs Haycocks’ family, which included her husband Paul who she was separated from and her son Chad Jarvis, she probably had an underlying virus which developed into streptococcus pneumoniae, a form of pneumonia which can come on very quickly, and once in the body is very hard to cure.
This then left her susceptible to airborne meningitis, a combination of which ultimately led to heart failure, even though she was a very healthy woman.
Ms Jones said: “I know this has been a shocking result for you but her death was entirely natural. She probably felt rotten and incredibly hot so laid down on her bed to cool down.
“The fact that she had no trace of paracetamol in her body suggests she died quite quickly after lying down as she didn’t even get up to take medicine.
“The infection just overwhelmed her body.”
Ms Jones added: “Even doctors couldn’t diagnose or predict it.
“There might have been no warning signs.
“It’s not a genetic disease but one which is airborne and can happen to anyone at any time.
“I’ve seen it in five-year-olds and fit farmers out in their fields.”
“Meningitis picks its victims indiscriminately and if that person is under the weather it can be fatal.”