A HAMPSHIRE pensioner died after falling in an attempt to say goodbye to her son, an inquest heard.

Beryl Postlethwaite, 91, hit her head on a stool as she stood to see her son, Andrew, out of her home in Hiltingbury Close, Chandler’s Ford.

She was rushed to Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester with serious head injuries but was diverted en route to Southampton General Hospital as her condition deteriorated.

Mrs Postlethwaite died on the evening of the fall, on October 23, after doctors turned off her breathing support machine.

The retired civil servant suffered from dementia and had trouble balancing, her husband Peter told an inquest in Winchester.

Senior central Hampshire coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death.