A MOTHER of four died after falling from a window at a York homelessness centre, an inquest has heard.

Donna Lambert, 36, was a resident at the Peasholme Centre in Fishergate when she fell more than 40 feet from her boyfriend’s second floor window on the night of December 23 last year.

The inquest, at New Earswick Folk Hall on Thursday, heard Ms Lambert had been drinking with her partner Peter Egan on the night she died, and her blood also contained traces of prescription methadone and a small amount of cannabis.

Mr Egan said in a statement he and Ms Lambert had “a bit of a spat” at about 10.30pm, and she said “I might as well go jump off the terrace”.

Fellow resident Mark Catlett said he was on the first floor terrace when Ms Lambert tried to climb the railings, but he grabbed her and calmed her down and returned with her to Mr Egan’s room. Both men said all three were talking calmly at about 11.30pm when Ms Lambert stood on the bed, appeared to stumble, put a foot onto the windowsill, and fell out of the open window.

York Press:

She suffered severe skull and rib injuries and was pronounced dead at 12.30am on Christmas Eve.

A statement from Ms Lambert’s mother Diane Wedgewood said her daughter had been badly affected by the death of her stepfather when she was 19, had often threatened to harm herself “after fall-outs or because she didn’t get her own way”, and was “almost bi-polar” in her moods.

The inquest heard had been arrested for shoplifting to feed her heroin habit, but was receiving treatment for her addiction.

Dr Francis Eyre, Ms Lambert’s GP, met with her just weeks before her death and said “her mood was at that time reasonable for her”, and “she seemed happy to be out of Arclight and into Peasholme”.

Speaking after the inquest, Mrs Wedgewood said she understood changes had been made to the windows at the centre since Ms Lambert’s death, and her daughter would be missed.

She said: “When she wasn’t into drugs, she was lovely. She had seven years without them. She was a lovely mother but she’d just gone down the wrong path.”

Coroner Jonathan Leach returned a conclusion of death by misadventure, and said Ms Lambert’s death had been an “unintended consequence of her actions”.

Mr Egan said he “couldn’t believe what happened”, while Mr Catlett said he had “tried to grab her ankles as she went out the window”. Both men were initially arrested but later released without charge.

Detective Constable Vincent Morris, of North Yorkshire Police’s Major Crime Unit, said two men had been arrested at the time of Ms Lambert’s death, but an investigation left detectives “quite satisfied there was no third party involvement in this case”.