A nurse died from alcohol poisoning after drinking three bottles of wine on Christmas Day, an inquest heard.

Margaret Benjafield was found in the bath at her home in Terryfield Road, High Wycombe, at around 1.15am on Boxing Day morning by her husband William. Attempts by her son to revive her were unsuccessful and she was declared dead by an ambulance crew.

A post mortem showed Mrs Benjafield had 421 mg/dl of ethanol in her bloodstream. The cause of death was given as acute alcohol toxicity associated with cirrhosis of the liver.

Wednesday's inquest heard Mrs Benjafield, a nurse on the children's ward at Wycombe hospital, had a history of heavy drinking.

Her husband said she had attempted to give up alcohol on a couple of occasions.

Mr Benjafield said: "She had done well and seemed to go back to it. It caught up with her."

Coroner Richard Hulett said: "If it [the alcohol] gets above a certain level, people can die of the amount, which is what's happened here."

He recorded 57-year-old Mrs Benjafield died of an alcohol-related death.