A former Dagenham resident was fatally injured in a 30-foot plunge at Stansted Airport when she returned from her Spanish home for a funeral, an inquest heard today.

Angela Vanessa Suwanpichaisi, 37, had been travelling alone from Alicante when the tragedy happened at the airport on September 17 2005.

Coroner’s officer PC Paul Gamman said that at the time of the incident the married woman was living in Spain and was returning alone for a family bereavement. There had been alcohol issues and health problems in the past.

“It was reported there that she was under the influence of alcohol and was involved in an altercation.”

She was seen to lean over the railings by the escalator and fell 30 feet on to a concrete floor sustaining serious injuries.

She was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow with head and other injuries and later transferred to a specialist unit at Queen’s Hospital, Romford where she died on September 30 2005. A post mortem gave the cause of death as multiple injuries .

Essex coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray recorded an accidental death verdict.

She said: “At the time of death she was living in Spain but the court was told that she was going to come back here. She was seen to lean over railings by the escalator and fall. The police attended and came to the conclusion there was no third party involvement and no foul play play.

“The court has heard that there were some difficulties in the course of the flight and when she reached Stansted there was something not quite right.”

The address for Mrs Suwanpichaisi who was known as as Vanessa was given as Parys Road, Ludlow, Shropshire.

The coroner told her family members in the courtroom at Chelmsford that Vanessa was clearly “much loved” and expressed her sympathies at her loss.

Vanessa’s sister Yvette Southall and step-sister Diana Thecker did not want to comment on the tragedy when they left the 15-minute hearing.