‘Kind and loving’ Eastbourne shop assistant found dead at home

The inquest at Eastbourne Town Hall on Thursday (July 8), heard Suzanne Grenfell, a shop assistant, was found dead at her flat in Saffrons Road on January 6.

Liam Grenfell, Ms Grenfell’s son, said, “She was a bubbly, sociable, and outgoing person. Very happy, kind and loving with lots of friends.”

According to PC Adam Burke, family gained access to the property just before 1pm and found Ms Grenfell dead.

PC Burke said evidence suggested Ms Grenfell had been dead for many hours.

A GP report from Dr Paul Frisby revealed she was on long-term prescription medication for anxiety, depression, chronic headaches and back pain.

Toxicology reports found Ms Grenfell had these prescription drugs in her system that were just over the therapeutic level. However, her cause of death was revealed to be bronchopneumonia. This causes a person to struggle with breathing because their airways are restricted due to inflammation which means their lungs are not getting enough oxygen.

Dr Frisby said she had no previous history of breathing issues so it was a ‘sudden and unexpected death’.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze said, “The pills won’t have helped her as they would reduce her normal breathing capacity, but they haven’t caused her death. The bronchopneumonia caused her death.”

Mr Craze ruled Ms Grenfell died from natural causes.