Luke Walker's girlfriend Chelsea Hyndman 'could have died from fall injuries' inquest heard

Chelsea Hyndman, 20, died on Crete on May 17, 2010 from severe abdominal injuries.

Her long-term boyfriend, Luke Walker, from Brierley Hill, was initially charged with Chelsea's murder.

During a trial in May 2013 the charge was reduced to grievous bodily harm leading to Chelsea's death, of which he was convicted last year and given a three-year suspended sentence by a court in Crete.

But giving evidence on the first day of a British inquest into her death, Professor Colin Johnson – a consultant surgeon and a specialist on the pancreas – said a fall while out drinking with friends 11 days before she died may have triggered her deteriorating health.

Witnesses claimed Chelsea, from Castleford in West Yorkshire, had a bottle in one hand while her left hand was in her belt as she adjusted her clothing, and so fell straight 'like a plank' without putting her hands out in front of her.'

Professor Johnson claimed that her left fist caught in her belt could have been enough to cause the damage to her pancreas, which eventually caused multiple organ failure.

He told Wakefield Coroner's Court: "In the case of someone who is drunk and the abdominal muscles relaxing, falling on the fist is sufficient to suppress the pancreas and cause the injury. Falling in the way described is sufficient."

Chelsea was admitted to hospital on May 16, 2010 with stomach pains and she had become jaundiced.

Despite emergency surgery, she died the next day.

Asked by the area coroner, Jonathan Leach, if he thought it was more likely the fall or an assault, Professor Johnson said: "I do not think with the state of the injuries it's really possible to say one way or another."

The inquest continues.