TUCKER: PENSIONER WITH HEALTH PROBLEMS DIED IN HER SLEEP

A mother-of-two found dead with a bloody nose and bruises to her neck passed away from natural causes, a court heard.

Police ordered tests on the body of Janice Tucker, 64, to help them decide if the apparent injuries and grazes on her arms were suspicious.

Mrs Tucker was found dead in bed on May 28 after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer, made even more arduous by her chronic lung disease.

The housewife, who was born deaf, also suffered high blood pressure and curvature of the spine, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

Recording a verdict of natural causes, inner London coroner Fiona Wilcox said there was no reason to suspect foul play.

She said Mrs Tucker, of Tooting, south London, had died from heart failure, which caused her lungs to fill with fluid so she appeared to be bleeding from the nose.

What looked like bruises came from blood settling after her death, while the grazes had various possible explanations.

Mrs Tucker’s body was discovered by husband Geoffrey Tucker, who said she ‘flopped’ into bed in the early hours of the morning and never woke up.

He described his wife of 31 years as a ‘fighter,’ who survived an abusive first marriage, financial hardship and her father’s early death in an industrial accident.

He said: ‘She wasn’t expected to life more than a year after she was born – she was only christened Janice Brignall so she could be buried with an identity.

‘When she was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in August 2010, I think she just saw it as another chapter in her tough life.

‘She used to say to me that she was going to die, but I don’t think she believed it.

‘I think she died when she flopped into bed and laid her head on my chest, but at the time I didn’t realise that.’

Mrs Tucker, of Maskell Road, Tooting, leaves behind children Cheryl and Carl.

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