January 15 2018
The Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan drowned in a hotel bath wearing her pyjamas, an inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court heard.
The Irish singer, from Kilmallock, County Limerick, was pronounced dead aged 46 on January 15 at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London, where she had been staying while recording.
Coroner Shirley Radcliffe told an inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court that the cause of death was drowning due to alcohol intoxication and concluded that the death was an accident.
PC Natalie Smart, who attended the scene, told the inquest: “I saw Mrs O’Riordan submerged in the bath with her nose and mouth fully under the water.”
The inquest heard that there were empty bottles in the room – five miniature bottles and a bottle of champagne – as well as containers of prescription drugs with a quantity of tablets in each container.
Toxiclocology tests showed only “therapeutic” amounts of medication in O’Riordan’s blood, but showed up 330mg of alcohol per 100mls of blood – meaning she was more than four times the 80mg legal limit for driving.