A COMBINATION of too much alcohol and an irregular heartbeat led to the death of a school worker, an inquest heard.

Sharon Maynard, 43, was found dead at the bottom of the stairs at her home in Park Place, Amersham, by her family on October 19 last year.

The post-mortem into her death revealed the level of alcohol in her bloodstream was "three or four times" the legal drink-drive limit, the inquest at Amersham Coroner's Court heard.

Doctor David Bailey, who carried out the post-mortem, said Ms Maynard, a canteen worker at Amersham College, also suffered from a cardiac arrhythmia which led to her having an irregular heartbeat.

Ms Maynard's father, Michael, said she had seemed fine when her saw her the previous day.

Mr Maynard was alerted to something being wrong when staff at Amersham College called him to say she had not turned up for work that morning.

Her family managed to gain access to her home using a spare key, where they discovered her lying at the foot of the stairs.

The post-mortem showed no signs of serious injury.

Coroner Richard Hulett said that although the amount of alcohol was lower than he had seen in several other cases where alcohol had been a cause of death, the combination of blood intoxication and her heart condition contributed to her death.

Mr Hulett recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He added that it wasn't possible to determine how significant Ms Maynard's heart abnormality was in contributing to her death.

He added that Ms Maynard probably did not intend to kill herself by consuming so much alcohol.