A 77-year-old Painswick businesswoman died as a result of stumbling on her garden steps and falling, a coroner heard last week.

Assistant Gloucestershire Coroner Roland Wooderson formally recorded the death of Krystyna Kirk of Damsells Mill, Painswick, as accidental.

Ms Kirk was a director of Tewkesbury-based hairdressing and beauty firm Mondo Unico Ltd.

At an inquest on Thursday (September 29) Mr Wooderson said "On September 11, she suffered a fall at her home address.

"She had started to climb some external steps when she missed her footing, causing her to fall backwards and land on some stone flagstones.

"She had a lump on her head and she then gradually deteriorated and her husband Brian called the ambulance. She died in hospital the following day, September 12."

The coroner said the evidence showed she had fallen from the fourth or fifth step, suffering head and neck injuries. A post mortem found that she had a 'devastating' brain injury leading to her death from traumatic intracerebral and intraventricular haemorrhage.

"Clearly her injuries were the result of the fall," said the coroner.