SHE was the beautiful bride-to-be who had gone backpacking with her fiance hoping to finding the perfect spot in which to marry.

Three days after finding it on a sun-kissed beach in Myanmar, Victoria Harris was found dead in bed in a mystery unlikely to be solved.

Her devastated family have been left without answers, and have criticised authorities in the Far East for not conducting a thorough investigation, instead embalming Victoria’s body, which made conducting a proper post-mortem impossible.

Victoria’s mother, Susan Ross, said: “The authorities out there only care about tourism.

“They love you going out there but are not set up to deal with any problems. As soon as anything goes wrong they don’t want to know.

“Vicky was a kind, caring and wonderful woman with a wicked sense of humour who was loved by, and will be missed by, so many people.”

Winchester Coroners’ Court heard how the 29-year-old support worker, from Helford Gardens, Swaythling, and her fiancee, Luke Cole, had arrived in the town of Vang Vieng in Laos on December 8, after an eight-hour train journey from neighbouring Thailand.

The couple had returned to the region on a backpacking holiday to find a place in which to wed.

Mr Cole said: “We had been to Thailand and Cambodia before and loved it so much we decided we wanted to get married there.”

Tired from travel, the pair booked into a hotel and spent the evening drinking whisky by the Nam Song River, in Laos, and playing pool in a local bar with fellow travellers before returning to the hotel and retiring soon after midnight.

Mr Cole said: “I remember waking up to get a glass of water – I knew something was up but I didn’t know what.

“Vicky was lying on her front on the bed. I touched her and asked her if she wanted some water but she was unresponsive. That’s when I started screaming for help.

“I rolled her onto the floor and attempted to do CPR but it wasn’t working.

“I then thought something might have been trapped in her throat so I tried to do the Heimlich manoeuvre.”

Mr Cole and a hotel receptionist took Victoria to hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

A post-mortem examination carried out in the UK was inconclusive.

Southampton pathologist Adrian Bateman told the court he could not determine a cause of death.

A toxicology report from toxicologist Peter Streete revealed that Miss Harris had alcohol in her system when she died but not enough to cause alcohol poisoning.

Assistant coroner Samantha Marsh said the lack of evidence had been frustrating and reports from the Asian authorities had been unsatisfactory – as a result of this she could not determine how Miss Harris had died.

“We have a 29-year-old woman who was in love, travelling with her partner... something has gone wrong but we can not identify what.”

Ms Marsh recorded an open verdict.