AN EMINENT scientist and mother of two who died after breaking her neck in a fall at her father's home in Camborne was a "tragic accident," a coroner has ruled. Alison Campbell, 49, was enjoying a family holiday in Reskadinnick, with her two sons, Alexander 7, and James, 9, when the tragedy happened.
Her eldest son found her body lying in the fetal position at the bottom of the stairs on the morning of July 28 last year. Mrs Campbell's father, Peter, a retired solicitor, told Cornwall's deputy assistant coroner, Barrie Van Den Berg, that he had woken in the night after hearing a "high pitched yell and a bump."
He said: "I heard nothing further and went back to sleep. The following morning the eldest son came in and said there was something wrong with mummy." They covered her body with a blanket in an attempt to keep her warm. Paramedics arrived soon after but she was pronounced dead.
Mrs Campbell, an expert in immunology and asthma, worked for United Chemicals of Belgium (UCB) in Brussels and lived in Switzerland. The court heard how she had been relaxing on the evening of July 27 and had drunk some wine. A postmortem revealed she had fractured her vertebrae and had a blood alcohol concentration of 149 mg in 100 ml. (Nearly one and half times over the drink drive limit).