A WREXHAM teacher found unconscious on a Tenerife hotel balcony died after not waking from a coma.

Her boyfriend had since died of a suspected drug overdose, a Flint inquest heard.

Jason Wilkinson would have been the “key witness” in the inquest on Helen Elizabeth Lloyd, 34, from Cornish Close, who died in September 2006.

After an evening drinking she had been found in the early hours of the morning on their bedroom balcony, unconscious. She was treated at a hospital where she remained in a coma and died on September 18.

After studying results of a Spanish autopsy, pathologist Dr Anthony Burdge concluded she had died of respiratory arrest due to alcohol and methadone with a contributory factor of liver failure.

North East Wales coroner John Hughes told her brother Peter Lloyd, of Park Avenue, Wrexham: “One way or another your sister got both substances in her body. There is no evidence to suggest third party involvement. I don’t want to blacken the name of her boyfriend, that would be unfair.

“Where the methadone came from and who supplied it, I have no clue. I would have wanted to ask her boyfriend a series of questions and he would have had the protection of not having to say anything self-incriminatory. But that would be the area I was looking at.”

Ms Lloyd was known to have been fighting problems of depression and alcohol, brought on by the stress of her job, but the Flint inquest heard no evidence of drug abuse or dependency.

An English graduate, she taught in Taiwan for a couple of years before returning and doing post-graduate studies at Bangor before teaching in Wolverhampton.

On September 15 2006 she went on holiday to Tenerife with Mr Wilkinson. In statements to Spanish police he said they had been drinking and went to bed. He awoke to find her about 4am on the balcony,.

Mr Hughes said there were “discrepancies” in subsequent statements made by Mr Wilkinson to the Spanish police. He had denied using any drugs.

Before her death, Ms Lloyd had telephoned her sister and was obviously enjoying her holiday and there were no concerns about her welfare, although she had been taking medication for toothache.

Mr Hughes said her medical records showed she had given up teaching because of severe depression and had been prescribed anti-depressants and attended a clinic to address her alcohol problem. But they also showed she had been doing well and had been doing voluntary school work with a view to resuming teaching.

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.