Mother fell to death during prank

A mother-of-two fell to her death from a ledge outside a first-floor flat while playing a prank on friends, an inquest heard.

Sarah Dowding, 19, from Bath, suffered fatal head injuries when she fell 20ft from the ledge of a friend's maisonette in the city last year.

A Bristol inquest heard she intended to play a joke by crawling along the ledge and tapping on a window.

Coroner Paul Forrest recorded a verdict of accidental death.

In a statement read to the court, Francesca Henley, who lived in the flat, said: "Sarah decided to play a prank on Austin in the living room.

'Face down'

"She went into the kitchen. After a couple of minutes I had not heard her tapping on the window and decided to look out to see where she was.

"I saw a female crouching down on the pavement and went down. I could see Sarah lying face down on the pavement."

Miss Dowding was taken to Bath's Royal United Hospital by ambulance before being transferred to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, where she died on 14 October.

Pathologist Professor Seth Love found 26 micrograms of morphine and 20 micrograms of codeine in Miss Dowding's blood. Opiates were also found in her urine.

Recording a verdict of accidental death following a fall, coroner Paul Forrest said: "It would appear she was playing and having fun and it all went tragically wrong."