GET MONEY OFF MONDAY’S WESTERN MAIL
ATEACHER died two weeks after falling down the stairs at a hotel on the evening of her mother’s funeral, an inquest heard.
Susan Philippart, who lived in Gorseinon, had been a teacher at St Joseph’s Primary School in Swansea for 28 years and was planning to retire next year.
An inquest held at Swansea’s Guildhall yesterday, heard the 61-year-old’s mother had died in February this year.
On the evening of the funeral, on March 10, Miss Philippart was staying at the Norton House Hotel, in Mumbles, with her partner.
The grandmother and mother of four had “enjoyed some wine whilst mingling with family and friends” before a number of relatives, including Ms Philippart, went back to a family member’s house.
The inquest heard that Ms Philippart was “very tired” at the gathering and that she had previously complained about “stress and fatigue” in the days leading up to the funeral.
Ms Philippart later returned to the Norton House Hotel with her brother Alex and partner Mansel Usher, where they had “a few drinks” at the bar and she was said to be “enjoying herself”.
PC Mike Jenkins, of South Wales Police, told the inquest: “It is believed that she stayed in the bar until about 11.30pm-11.45pm when she made her way to her room.
“Mr Usher states the stairs were very narrow so they walked up in single file. He looked back to check to see she was okay, only to find her on the floor unconscious. He did not hear her fall. It seems she lost her footing and fell backwards down the stairs but it was unwitnessed and there is no CCTV on the staircase.
“The fall was not deemed suspicious and police were not called to attend.”
The inquest heard a statement from Mr Usher where he said he did not know “how many steps she had taken” but that he did “remember hearing a sound” that could have made him turn around.
Paramedics arrived at the hotel at 11.50pm and Ms Philippart was taken to Morriston Hospital, where medical staff discovered she had suffered a traumatic brain injury.
She was then transferred to a critical care unit at the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, where she died two weeks later on Wednesday, March 25.
PC Jenkins told the inquest that Ms Philippart had “complained of hip problems and sciatica” as well as osteoarthritis in her knee, for which she had previously undergone surgery.
He also explained that she had been “seen to walk awkwardly to one side” on the day of her mother’s funeral as her hip had been causing her pain.
Recording a conclusion of an accidental death, acting senior coroner for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Colin Phillips said: “She died as a consequence of an unwitnessed fall down the stairs at Norton House Hotel, in Mumbles, which occurred on March 10 just before midnight.
“The ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital the next day.
“It was a tragic and accidental death.”