THE family of a Wirral mum who died from a heart condition after giving birth have hit out at the length of time it took to open the inquest into her death.

Teacher Nicola Moroney, 32, died on the night of January 24, 2012 after falling ill at her home in Telegraph Road, Heswall.

An inquest at Gerard Majella Courthouse in Liverpool this afternoon heard that Mrs Moroney had been on her iPad that night when she complained of feeling unwell. Her face became pale and she became unresponsive.

Paramedics continued resuscitation attempts on the mother-of-two as she was taken by ambulance to Arrowe Park Hospital. She gave birth to third daughter Ruby, by Caesarian section, but died less than an hour later.

Sadly, Ruby died the following morning, with the cause of death given as 'extreme prematurity'.

A post-mortem gave Mrs Moroney's cause of death as dilated cardiomyopathy exacerbated by pregnancy.

But her family said they were 'fuming' that it had taken so long to open and conclude the inquest. They also felt many questions were left 'unanswered' by a Wirral coroner's officer in 2012.

During this afternoon's hearing, a doctor's report revealed there was evidence of an 'existing' heart condition.

The post-mortem examination was carried out by Dr David Agbamu at Arrowe Park Hospital.

His report read: "There was marked abnormality of the heart. The heart was enlarged; as well as this it was dilated. There was also evidence of scarring.

"In my original report I said pregnancy is likely to have exacerbated an existing cardiac condition."

Addressing the inquest, coroner Andre Rebello, who took over the case load of Wirral inquests in January, following the retirement of Wirral coroner Christopher Johnson, expressed his frustration at the length of time it had taken to open the inquest.

He said at the end: "I can't explain why this case wasn't heard in early 2012. I don't understand, it should never have been this way.

"The service that Nicola's family have had is not the service I would expect from any coroner's court.

"The matter has festered and has not got any better."

Her father Stanley Jones told the Globe afterwards: "It's almost three years since Nicola died and we were annoyed that this inquest was left so long.

"We're disgusted with Wirral Coroner's office and hope it doesn't happen to anyone else."