11 February,2011 07:00 AM IST | | Agencies
A teenager collapsed and died minutes after her boyfriend kissed her for the first time, an inquest heard yesterday.
Shy Jemma Benjamin (18), was kissed by fellow university student Daniel Ross (21), at his home after a night out together.
Daniel noticed her frothing at the mouth
But superfit hockey player Jemma then suddenly slumped onto the sofa and died in front of Daniel's eyes.u00a0
The inquest heard Jemma died from the rare cardiac condition SADS Sudden Arrhythmac Death syndrome - which kills 500 people in Britain each year.
Daniel, who had known Jemma for three months, tried desperately to save her before paramedics arrived on the scene.
But the inquest heard nothing could have been done for Jemma who was killed by the adult version of cot death syndrome.
Daniel told police that he and Jemma had been friends for three months but, that was the first time they had kissed.
He said, "It was not a sexual relationship but we saw each other a couple of times a week. We were going to go to a bar for some food and went back to my house for a credit card which I had forgotten."
He added, "We were talking and ended up kissing in the hallway by the front door. We went into the kitchen and then the living room and Jemma sat down on the sofa."
Daniel said that Jemma's eyelids "suddenly began to droop" and her mouth started to froth before she collapsed.
He said, "I rang her mother to see if she had epilepsy. She fell in and out of consciousness."
He later rang the paramedics and was given CPR instructions on the phone by a Welsh Ambulance Service control operator but he was unable to revive Jemma.
Jemma's father Dale told the hearing that he thought Jemma and Daniel were "just friends". He said, "Jemma was very shy and timid."
Her mother Charlotte Garwood said Jemma was "a picture of health one minute and taken away from me the next".
A post-mortem examination by pathologist Dr Jason Shannon could find no medical reason for her death in April 2009.
