A depressed mum-of-four died after developing malnutrition following her husband’s sudden death, an inquest heard.

Blackburn Coroners Court heard that retired cleaner Bernadette Riley, of Church, stopped eating and became ‘acutely malnourished’ following the death of her husband Brian in May 2014.

Mrs Riley, of York Street, had undergone gastric bypass surgery in 2005 and lost more than 40kg - more than six stones - in weight over the next two years.

The inquest heard she had become ‘alcohol dependant’ following another bereavement - the death of her father, in 2008 - which contributed to her getting chronic pancreatitis and later led to her developing malnutrition.

Coroner Michael Singleton, recording a narrative verdict, said the 57-year-old then ‘didn’t have any reserves to fight a chest infection’ and died in the critical care unit at Royal Blackburn Hospital on May 16.

A post-mortem found that Mrs Riley died of bronchopneumonia and acute chronic pancreatitis due to malnutrition due to gastric bypass surgery for morbid obesity and contributing were both depression and previous alcoholism.

The inquest heard that Mrs Riley stopped drinking in 2009 but after her husband’s death in 2014 her ‘mental and physical health deteriorated’ and she became ‘very reclusive’.

Her daughter Corinne said they took her to hospital twice as she was ‘very dehydrated’ and was ‘begging on the ward for a mental health assessment’.

She said: “She totally isolated herself and even I couldn’t get through to her.

“She just wouldn’t answer the phone or the door, she just cut herself off. She didn’t want to know about anything.”

Speaking after the inquest, Corinne said: “My mother was a very caring person that was dedicated to her grandchildren and she helped the children in the area where she lived.

“Once our father passed away my mother give up as my father was the backbone of the family and she couldn’t live without him.”