A MAFF field officer made a desperate 999 call as she lay dying, telling the operator: "I'm alone in the house and I've stabbed myself".

Nicole Winnett, of Middle Lane, Cropthorne, near Pershore, was last seen gardening on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 29.

The neighbour who spotted her was the last person to see her alive, Worcestershire Coroner Victor Round told an inquest in Stourbridge.

"At 5.20pm, she made an emergency call to the ambulance to say that she was alone in the house and had stabbed herself," he said.

"The ambulance crew found her collapsed with a lot of blood around her.

"They confirmed she was dead at the scene."

Mr Round said the 30-year-old died from shock and haemorrhaging caused by a stab wound to her right femoral artery.

He adjourned yesterday's inquest.