A woman who battled alcohol, heroin and crack addictions died after falling out of bed and banging her head.

Marianne Ten-Broeke, who was born in Holland but lived in Watford, had been an addict for more than 10 years before she died, aged 49, at Watford General Hospital on October 20, 2015.

Hertfordshire Coroners' Court today heard that Marianne had spent the night at her boyfriend’s house in Abbots Langley. After a heavy night of drinking, she fell out of the bed and knocked her head on the bedside table.

Her boyfriend, Kirk Wilson, knew it would be a struggle to lift her back into the bed and could hear that she was breathing, so decided to leave her there until the morning.

But when he woke, he could not get Marianne to wake up and she began frothing from her mouth.

An ambulance arrived but paramedics did not immediately gauge the severity of the accident. It was only upon arrival at the hospital that they realised she had suffered a head injury and was severely brain damaged.

The blow to her head caused her brain to swell and fill with blood, and this caused her lungs to fill with fluid.

Coroner Geoffrey Banbury recorded a conclusion of accidental death.