A young Wigan borough woman who loved music and theatre died suddenly after going to bed and failing to wake up, an inquest heard.

Bolton Coroner’s Court heard 24-year-old Elizabeth Medling had attended Wigan and Leigh College before studying photography and media at Huddersfield University.

She loved music, going to festivals, concerts and the theatre, and worked as an usher at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre.

She did not drink alcohol or take drugs, did not have any health issues and had not even seen her GP since becoming an adult, the court heard.

But tragically she died at her home in Leigh on Sunday, June 8 after being found unresponsive in bed.

Her dad Paul Medling told the court he had seen Elizabeth the previous evening and she appeared to be her usual self.

The next day, her alarm was heard to go off two or three times, but her family assumed she had decided to sleep in.

But Mr Medling became concerned when she had still not left her bedroom by around 3pm.

He shouted her and had no reply. He then went into her bedroom and found her unresponsive.

He alerted his wife Lisa, called 999 and started doing CPR until paramedics arrived.

Sadly, Elizabeth was confirmed to have died.

Dr Patrick Waugh, a consultant histopathologist, carried out a full post-mortem examination after a digital autopsy failed to reveal the cause of Elizabeth’s death.

He reported that she suffered acute heart failure, probably due to an arrhythmia – an abnormal heart rhythm due to disruptions in the heart's electrical signals – but it was not possible to confirm this through examination after death.

Dr Waugh said: “I believe she most likely has had a fatal arrhythmia and that would be in keeping with sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.”

Also known as SADS or sudden adult death syndrome, sudden arrhythmic death syndrome is when someone dies suddenly and unexpectedly from a cardiac arrest with no obvious cause, often due to arrhythmias.

It can be caused by an inherited condition, so Dr Waugh urged Elizabeth’s relatives to see a cardiologist.

Coroner Ceri Owen recorded that Elizabeth died by natural causes.