THE secretary of a York residents' association died suddenly this summer because she was epileptic, an inquest heard.

Janice Rebecca Law, 41, of Marjorie Waite Court, Clifton, was secretary of Clifton Residents' Association and died at her home on June 24.

A post-mortem examination found that she had died of a condition called "sudden unexpected death in epilepsy".

The inquest heard that this is a well-recognised condition in epilepsy and tends to affect the younger age group.

Miss Law's mother, Mavis Law, told the inquest in a statement that her daughter, who was single and unemployed, had gone to Chester on June 11 for a residential course for residents' associations and suffered from two seizures while she was there.

Then on June 16, she had a seizure at her sister's house and Mrs Law said she noticed that Miss Law's seizure seemed different to normal and told her to go to the doctors.

She went to see the doctor and he told her she was not taking enough medication. A statement from her GP confirmed that she had only been taking one tablet instead of two a day for some time.

Mrs Law said she rang her daughter on June 20, but got no answer. She was not perturbed because she knew the warden called in every day. But on Sunday, June 24, when she got no answer she asked the warden to go in, and it was found that Miss Law had died in bed.

The post-mortem found no evidence that she had suffered an epileptic seizure or that she had taken an overdose. She had died from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

Recording a verdict of natural causes, coroner Donald Coverdale said: "This is a very unfortunate, but recognised cause of death which can occur in people who suffer from epilepsy."

Doug Cook, chairman of Clifton Residents' Association, today paid tribute to Miss Law.

He said she had been doing the secretary's job for a couple of months and her death had come as a great shock to all the members.

"We worked closely together and she was very active, very helpful and always had a smile on her face," he said.

Updated: 15:18 Thursday, September 20, 2001