A GREAT Yarmouth landlady who died after falling down a flight of stairs was five times over the legal drink drive limit, an inquest heard. Rosie Templeton suffered fatal injuries when she tumbled down the stairs of O'Grady's pub, on Howard Street South, in the early hours on February 9 this year.

A GREAT Yarmouth landlady who died after falling down a flight of stairs was five times over the legal drink drive limit, an inquest heard.

Rosie Templeton suffered fatal injuries when she tumbled down the stairs of O'Grady's pub, on Howard Street South, in the early hours on February 9 this year.

The inquest at Yarmouth Magistrates' Court heard the mother-of-two suffered 39 separate injuries in the fall including a nasty head wound and bruising to the arms, legs and back.

The inquest was also told Mrs Templeton could have been dead for about an hour before she was found.

On Thursday, coroner Keith Dowding recorded a verdict of accidental death and that Mrs Templeton had died from blood loss and a head wound.

Mrs Templeton and her husband Mark had been running the Irish-themed pub since 2002 and the inquest heard she had been seen drinking in the pub the night before she died.

IT student and former barman Kyle Savage was working on the Friday night and said he'd seen Mrs Templeton drinking throughout the evening. Mr Savage said it was clear to see Mrs Templeton was intoxicated due to her “behaviour, slurring of words and the subjects she was talking about.”

Mr Templeton told the inquest that before he left the pub at 9pm to go on a night out he had tried to put his wife to bed four times. He said she was “emotional”.

Hours later, when he returned home and went upstairs to go to

bed he discovered his wife's

slumped dead body at the bottom of

a tight and dark staircase.

He said: “I was shocked. I picked her up but realised my hands were covered in blood. I realised how serious it was and called to my son Jordan to get an ambulance.”

Mr Templeton and two other men were taken into police custody and subsequently released. Mr Dowding said he was satisfied no third party was involved.

Paramedic Jonathan Dermott arrived at the scene just after 4am and found Mrs Templeton lying on the floor unconscious in a pool of blood.

He said: “She had blood around her head. I tried to resuscitate Mrs Templeton but her heart had stopped.”

Mr Dermott said it was likely she could have died about an hour or so earlier.

A post mortem, carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift, revealed a “considerable” number of injuries on her body and signs of chronic alcohol abuse. Dr Swift said Mrs Templeton had five times the legal drink drive limit of alcohol in her blood and that her injuries were consistent with a fall down the stairs.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Dowding said: “It's not a particularly easy staircase, it would require some ability to manoeuvre particularly if there had been a quantity of alcohol taken. My sympathy lies with the family.”