Couple’s freak tumble tragedy

FREAK accident . . . John Wood and Mary Murphy fell to their deaths after birthday drinks

BIRTHDAY celebrations ended in tragedy when a 66-year-old Failsworth woman and her partner died in a fall downstairs.

Mary Murphy and John Wood (67) were found dead at the foot of the stairs by a neighbour on April 15.

An inquest into the freak accident at Heywood coroner’s court yesterday heard the couple — engaged for 43 years but never married — had been out drinking the night before to celebrate her birthday before returning home to Ogden Road.

Neighbours heard a thud at around 4am and later that morning a friend went into the house to find the bodies of the couple entangled at the bottom of the stairs.

Forensic pathologist Dr Charles Wilson said Mr Wood was found with his legs facing up the stairs and his head wedged under a radiator. His partner was in a similar position, laying partly on top of him.

There was a pillow under Mr Wood’s head and a bloodstained cloth on his nose - suggesting Miss Murphy had tried to help him before collapsing on top of him.

Tragically, both died not from the fall’s bruises and in Mr Wood’s case a fractured spine, but from the way they were positioned on the floor, which stopped them breathing.

Coroner Matthew Cox gave accidental death conclusions for both.