A GRIEVING family may never know how mother-of-two Jane Manning died from acute alcohol poisoning five days after the death of her mother.

A court heard how her baffled husband Brian Manning said she had no opportunity to drink while he was with her on the afternoon leading up to her death.

Mr Manning and a police officer found no bottles of alcohol in the bathroom where Mrs Manning collapsed on the evening of January 20.

Wiltshire coroner David Masters recorded a verdict of misadventure at the inquest of Mrs Manning, which was held at Chippenham Magistrates Court last Thursday.

"There is still one missing piece of the jigsaw in other words the missing bottle from which she consumed alcohol," he said. "But I cannot find that missing piece for you."

The court heard that Mrs Manning, 48, of Lime Trees, Christian Malford was very close to her mother and was devastated when she died on January 15.

A report by consultant pathologist Charles Colley, of Great Western Hospital, Swindon, said the amount of alcohol found in Mrs Manning's blood was more than 500mg in 100 millilitres of blood, consistent with consuming more than half a bottle of spirits. The drink driving limit is 35mg.

Mr Manning said his wife, who was known as Biddy, was a social drinker who enjoyed a glass of wine with meals at home, but did not drink spirits at home. He said he could only recall her being drunk once, and that was during her mother's illness.

Mrs Manning's daughter Charlotte Shewell, a student, agreed that her mother was an occasional drinker and there were times when she would drink to avoid confrontation.

She said: "She was suffering from a number of medical problems and granny's death was a shock to her. It left a large void in her life."

Miss Shewell said her mother was drunk probably twice a year. She said she had only seen her mother drink from a bottle on one occasion, when she walked in on her drinking from a bottle hidden in her wardrobe.

She said she thought Mrs Manning may have brought a bottle from Safeway, where she went shopping on the morning of her death, before her husband returned from work at 2pm.

Mr Manning said when he came home he could see his wife had been crying and was clearly distressed, but added that he was not aware she might have been drinking.

He said: "At no time from 2pm onwards to the time of her death did I see her drinking. I was with her throughout the day."

But funeral director Michael Jones, of SW Jones And Son, in Market Place, Chippenham, who met the couple that afternoon, told the coroner he thought she had been drinking.

And the Reverend Wendy Sanders, who had known Mrs Manning for two years, said there was something not quite right about her when she and her husband visited her at 5.30pm. She said she thought she had smelt alcohol on Mrs Manning's breath.

The couple returned home at 7pm and Mrs Harding went upstairs asking for a cup of coffee. Mr Manning took the drink upstairs to his wife.

He said: "She looked a little sleepy, but nothing at that time gave me cause for concern."

He went back downstairs to take a telephone call from Charlotte and returned five minutes later to find his wife collapsed on the bathroom floor. Paramedics were unable to revive her and she was declared dead at 8.17pm.

In his verdict the coroner said: "I think it was possible that she had consumed alcohol late in the morning. The only logical explanation for that level is that she added to what was already in the body. If it was the case that a substantial amount of alcohol was taken on an empty stomach it may be that the effects were accelerated."