THE death of an elderly woman weeks after she was badly injured in a car crash at Monks Cross was due to natural causes, an inquest has heard.

Marjorie Onions, 88, of Westfield Road, Wigginton, was being driven home from a medical appointment by her partner when their car was involved in a collision on a roundabout near Asda.

Mrs Onions, who was registered blind and had chronic back pain and mobility problems, suffered nine broken ribs in the crash on November 24 last year, an inquest heard. In a statement read to the court, her son, David Francis Onions, said: “Mum suffered massive crush injuries to her chest and a gash to her leg.

“Initially she was alert, but over a matter of a few weeks she was overcome by tiredness.”

Mrs Onions was admitted to York Hospital and then released to Birchlands Nursing Home in Haxby.

She was readmitted to hospital on January 14 and died on January 16. Dr Nicola Maughan, who carried out the post-mortem examination, told the court that Mrs Onions’s rib fractures had healed by the time of her death.

Dr Maughan found Mrs Onions had heart disease and a narrowing of the arteries. She was also suffering from pneumonia, likely to be due to her not eating properly and poor mobility.

Recording a verdict of natural causes, coroner Donald Coverdale said Mrs Onions had died of heart disease due to coronary atherosclerosis – a thickening of the artery walls.

Pneumonia was also a contributing factor in her death.

Mr Coverdale said: “There was no substantial connection between the road traffic accident in November 2010 and the ultimate mechanism of death and the matter from which Mrs Onions eventually succumbed.

“She had long-standing ischemic heart disease and atherosclerosis.”