Expat dies after freak accident

An expatriate died after a freak accident caused her to bleed to death.

Sally Feeley, who had moved from Birmingham to Spain's Costa del Sol six years before her death last October, was out with friends in a bar when she tripped over her handbag and smashed a glass.

The shattered glass pierced her left armpit and left a cut measuring seven centimetres, severing a major artery.

Assistant deputy coroner in Birmingham Michael Snell recorded the expatriate's death as the result of an accident.

"She tripped and fell backwards onto a glass and received a severe stab injury. She died from a haemorrhage received from a laceration to the left armpit" he said.

Ms Feeley, 42, leaves a 12-year-old son, Shea, who she lived with in Nerja.

The expat's friend, Karen Thornton, explained how she was out with Ms Feeley on the night of her death as they drank hot chocolate and chatted to other bar visitors.

Ms Thornton recalled how "everybody tried to stem the bleeding" before Ms Feeley was pronounced dead in hospital.