Late EastEnders star Sandy Ratcliff spent her last night alone and her final request was for oranges, black coffee and biscuits, an inquest heard today.
Original castmember Alexandra 'Sandy' Ratcliff, 70, was found dead in her bed at her home in north London in April.
An inquest into her death was held at Poplar Coroners Court, which heard she'd been suffering from lung cancer and died from pneumonia and an overdose of morphine.
Carer Amina Begum was the one who found the actress and said she last saw Ratcliff the previous afternoon around 5.30pm when she asked for some shopping.
"She was in a good mood, talkative, laughing. She asked for oranges, black coffee and biscuits. That was the last time I saw her", she said in a statement read to the court.
Her cause of death was given as pneumonia and excessive morphine, with other factors being cited as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and kidney disease.
Sandy's son William Palmer painted a tragic picture of his mother's final years alone in sheltered housing in London, saying she "wasn't enjoying life" and refused medical attention for lung cancer.
She had spent years battling drug and alcohol addiction, but Palmer said he thought she had been clean since 2013.
He also explained that in later years she "never had alcohol in the house".
Giving evidence at in court he said: "She stopped [taking illicit drugs] a good few years before her death.
"I hadn’t seen her for five or six years before 2013. Certainly in 2013 she was clean.
"I only found out about her lung cancer in March but she had benign tumours for years but she hadn’t kept up with appointments and refused to go to hospital.
"I don’t think she was happy - she wasn't well. I don’t think she was suicidal. She just wasn’t enjoying life".
She was hit by tragedy in 2013 when her partner died unexpectedly and she suffered a stroke shortly afterwards.
The actress went on to suffer two more strokes, which left her in chronic pain and reliant on medication to ease the agony in her left arm.
The inquest heard she'd been using codeine, but was sent from hospital with morphine pills just 24 hours before she died.
