A woman died after choking on a piece of steak at a pub, a coroner ruled.

Pensioner Margaret Atack, 77, was said to have been eating out with family at an – unnamed – pub restaurant on January 3 this year when she choked on the piece of meat. She fell unconscious and stopped breathing.

A record of her inquest, conducted by assistant coroner Sonia Hayes at Oxford Coroner’s Court, noted: “Backslaps and a Heimlich manoeuvre did not clear Margaret’s airway and emergency services were called.”

READ MORE: Inquests opened into deaths at John Radcliffe Hospital

An off-duty fireman began to perform CPR and continued the chest compressions until paramedics arrived. They were able to clear the piece of steak from Mrs Atack’s airway.

She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital by the ambulance crews but did not recover.

Mrs Atack died on January 4, a day after the incident at the pub, with the cause of her death given as hypoxic brain injury. The secondary cause of death was noted as choking on a piece of steak.

Assistant coroner Ms Hayes recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

The record of inquest said Mrs Atack, née Holyoak, was born in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, in March 1944.

She was a retired catering assistant who lived in Western Avenue, Didcot. She was a widow.

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