A WOMAN found her wife dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Bournemouth home in a ‘shocking and sudden’ death.

Karen Louise Barnes was a well-loved graphic and digital designer for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra before her unexpected death.

An inquest held at Bournemouth Town Hall on March 1 heard the 54-year-old was a chatty, sociable person and a loved aunt and godmother.

Karen and her wife, Erika Baldwin, had been in a relationship for 27 years and were planning a trip to Scotland to celebrate their recent wedding in May 2023.

However, a month later Karen was found unresponsive in their home on Windham Road in Bournemouth.

At around 11pm on June 9, 2023, Erika noticed Karen having a few drinks in the garden, enjoying the nice weather.

She decided not to join Karen, and instead went to bed.

Erika woke at around 3am to use the bathroom when she noticed their two indoor cats were missing and went to look if they had got outside.

She noticed something at the bottom of the stairs and after turning on the light realised it was Karen.

Despite calling and shouting her name, Karen did not wake and Erika phoned for an ambulance on their landline.

Erika said in a statement to Dorset Coroner’s Court: “Karen was the love of my life.”

She added Karen's death was ‘completely out of blue, so surprising and shocking’.

Pc Alex Marvin from Dorset Police arrived at the scene at 4.57am along with a colleague.

Paramedics already at the scene said there was no evidence of suspicious circumstances. 

After searches of her body, Pc Marvin confirmed there were no suspicious marks or injuries and nothing to suggest a fall.

Following a post-mortem examination by Dr Robert Blahut and a toxicology report by Mr Rob Moore, Karen’s cause of death was left unascertained.

Although alcohol was found in her system, it was lower than that of a fatal level. 

Assistant coroner for Dorset, Richard Middleton, concluded Karen died as a consequence of natural causes, but the precise cause of death is unascertained.