CORRIE STAR’S BOOZE HELL

A FORMER Corrie actress died after starting to drink a bottle of vodka a day as she battled post-natal depression.

Former Miss Wales Melanie Hughes, 39, developed the illness after the birth of her son Kaden.

An inquest heard she had been left in a “terrible state” by a traumatic year.

She suffered a miscarriage, was distressed over the death of her grandmother and her mother was taken ill.

After winning the Miss Wales title, she appeared in a series of minor TV roles including Coronation Street and Cold Feet.

But she died leaving behind three-year-old son Kaden and 16-year-old stepdaughter Taylor.

Husband Richard, 50, of Ewloe, Flints, said his wife had been let down by agencies that should have helped her.

She went through a period of rehab but began drinking again afterwards.

Richard said he asked for his wife to be sectioned in order to stop her drinking but was told: “It’s not as simple as that.”

Melanie collapsed without warning on her bed last October yet had only a small amount of alcohol in her system at the time.

Substance misuse worker Kelly Wilson told the inquest in Ruthin, Denbighs: “Melanie really was in a terrible state and there were times when even you couldn’t help her.”

Coroner Elizabeth Dudley-Jones concluded Melanie died from fatty liver disease caused by her addiction to alcohol.