A GP used a defibrillator to try to save a woman’s life when she choked at Marks and Spencer cafe in Witney, an inquest heard.

Dr Richard Carey rushed to try to help 76-year-old Paula Symes when she got into trouble at the shop on Wednesday, July 1.

The inquest at Oxford Coroner’s Court last Wednesday heard how Mrs Symes, a retired maths teacher from Woodstock, had been out shopping that morning with her husband Richard.

In a statement for the inquest, Mr Symes said they went for lunch and she started having trouble breathing.

Another statement from Mrs Symes’ GP in Woodstock revealed that she had been diagnosed last year with a progressive palsy which was causing increasing paralysis of the muscles involved in swallowing, but she had declined an offer to have a feeding tube.

Medically-trained staff from the shop also rushed to the couple’s assistance and someone called 999.

In his statement, Dr Carey said he was working as the on-call GP at the Nuffield practice that day, and a practice secretary came in and said a lady had collapsed at the cafe.

When he arrived at the cafe he found Mrs Symes on the floor unconscious and started performing CPR.

He said: “At last a nurse arrived with our defibrillator”, and he said he used the device until it detected there was no cardiac activity and was forced to pronounce death.

Defibrillators are used to treat cardiac arrest – when the heart suddenly stops beating – which can be caused by choking.

Coroner Darren Salter gave a conclusion of accidental death and said the cause of death was choking.