A yoga teacher was found dead in her room just hours after checking into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, an inquest heard.

Rachel Fiennes, 58, was discovered by a member of staff at the Withersdane Hall residential and outpatient treatment clinic in Wye.

The hearing at the Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone heard how the Sandwich resident, who lived in Harnet Street, was a chronic alcoholic.

She had checked into the centre, in Coldharbour Lane at the bottom of Wye Hill, on September 6 last year.

A nurse offered to take her dog for a walk but when she returned just before 9pm she found Mrs Fiennes unresponsive on the floor.

Ambulance crews were called and CPR was performed but she could not be saved.

"She had attempted to detox many times in the community and at specialist clinics, but she unfortunately always seemed to relapse..." - assistant coroner Kate Thomas

Assistant coroner Kate Thomas heard how Mrs Fiennes, whose son lived in Kenya, would drink two bottles of wine every day.

Miss Thomas said: “Withersdane Hall was a place she was familiar with having previously attended on numerous occasions.

“She was checked in and was unsteady on her feet. She was shown to her room and her medications were taken off her.

“She was given a meal and one of the members of staff offered to take her dog for a walk.

“It would appear, however, at some point she clearly had ingested a fatal combination of medication.”

Mrs Fiennes, who was born on the Isle of Wight and was registered at a GP surgery in Bath, was found with a number of drugs in her system, including diazepam, which is part of the benzodiazepine family and produces a calming effect.

Alcohol was also found in her blood.

Miss Thomas said: “This was a lady who had struggled for many years with a fairly substantial drug and alcohol addiction.

“She was addicted to benzodiazepine, which she was prescribed but also sourced it from other places.

“She had attempted to detox many times in the community and at specialist clinics, but she unfortunately always seemed to relapse.”

Miss Thomas recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

She added: “She did not have a history of trying to take her life.

“She checked herself into Withersdane Hall, a place that she knew and a place she would be monitored at.

“If anybody intended to take their life, that is not a place they would go.

“In my view, she took a combination of drugs with alcohol which accidentally led to her death.”