A newly-wed drowned after having an epileptic fit in the bath while at home alone.

Carshalton woman Kelly Martynski, 32, suffered regular epileptic fits for several years and usually avoided baths or had them with her new husband Andrew looking after her.

But, on November 8 last year, Mr Martynski was out on a plumbing course when Mrs Martynski decided to have a bath because there was a problem with the boiler in their Stanhope Road home.

Mrs Martynski suffered a fit while in the water. At an inquest on Tuesday South London Coroner Roy Palmer ruled a case of accidental death.

Concluding an inquest, held at Croydon Coroner's Court on Thursday, South London Coroner Roy Palmer, said: "I'm sorry that you've lost Kelly in such sad circumstances. It was a death from natural causes because it was a fit and she drowned because she went under the water.

"But, had she not been in the bath, she may have recovered, as she usually did, so it's more fitting for me to record a verdict of accidental death."

The inquest heard an ambulance was called to the couple's home in Stanhope Road at around 8.30pm. Mr Martynski had come home to find Mrs Martynski, his wife of just one year, unconscious in the bath.

When the ambulance arrived they found Mr Martynski performing CPR on his wife.

Paramedics tried to save her but she was declared dead on the scene.

The coroner read excerpts from Mrs Martynski's medical history which explained she was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2003 and, despite taking medication, would have fits two to four times per month, on average, but would recover from each.