Hoylake teenager died in stairs fall at boyfriend's house

Apr 8 2009 by Liam Murphy, Heswall News

A YOUNG woman died from head injuries after she fell down the stairs in the dark at her boyfriend’s house, an inquest heard.

Kim Ann Dobner, 18, had been out in Hoylake with her boyfriend earlier that night, and got up in the night to go to the toilet.

But the inquest at Wallasey Town Hall heard that Miss Dobner had not turned on the light and probably took a wrong turning when leaving the bathroom.

Coroner’s officer Donald Johnston told the hearing that, earlier that night, Miss Dobner and boyfriend Paul Gallivan had been out for a curry in Hoylake before going on to Wetherspoons. The pair were later given a lift to Paul Gallivan’s parents’ home in Upton.

Miss Dobner, from Springfield Avenue, West Kirby, had only had a glass and a half of wine during the night out on Saturday, March 8, and, although not a regular drinker, had been described as “tipsy not drunk”.

The young complaints clerk, who worked for MBNA bank in Chester, had not turned on the light because she did not want to wake her boyfriend’s parents.

Mr Johnston told the inquest: “During the night, Paul was aware Kim got out of bed and heard the bathroom door open and close.

“He told officers later Kim did not turn on the light as she did not want to wake his parents.

“Then he heard a slipping noise and then a thud.”

Kim was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital where she was found to have suffered serious head injuries, and she died later that day.

A statement released by Hilbre High School Humanities College, in West Kirby, Wirral, where Miss Dobner had studied, said: “Kim was a beautiful, talented, charming girl with a smile that lit up a room.

“She was a conscientious student who gained considerable success at GCSE and A level; her ambition was to become a police officer and she was following that dream with determination and commitment.

“Kim was a mature young woman who possessed great self-awareness; she was honest and sincere with an insatiable thirst for life.

Coroner Christopher Johnson recorded a verdict of accidental death.