Husband Leslie Phillips found his wife lying at the front door to their Maida Vale home

Former Bond girl Angela Phillips – wife of actor Leslie Phillips – died after swallowing high-strength drain cleaner and falling down the steps outside their Maida Vale home, an inquest has heard.

Mrs Phillips, who suffered from bipolar disorder and alcohol dependence, was rushed by air ambulance from their home at about 1.50pm on April 11.

The 65-year-old had been found lying outside their house, covered in the corrosive liquid.

She was diagnosed with extensive internal injuries, external burns to more than 40 per cent of her body and multiple fractures, including a fractured spine, sustained when she slipped down the steps. She was pronounced dead later that day at St Mary’s Hospital.

The drain cleaner ingested by Mrs Phillips had contained 91 per cent sulphuric acid, Westminster Coroner’s Court heard.

Passer-by Mahmood Asmar alerted Mr Phillips to his wife’s situation when he saw her lying on the floor shouting “help, help”, the court was told.

Mr Phillips told how he had given his wife breakfast in the morning and brought her a cup of tea at about 10am before leaving her in the bedroom, he said in a statement.

“It would appear that Angela got up at about midday unbeknown to me,” he said.

“I do recall hearing a noise at the front door at that time but I thought no more of it.

“Then I heard someone screaming and there was a man waving at me from outside and pointing to the front door.

“I went to the door and opened it and saw Angela lying there. She was bleeding from the head and was generally in a shocking state.”

After slipping on the front steps himself, Mr Phillips called an ambulance but paramedics were unable to stabilise his wife.

Mrs Phillips, who had battled with bowel cancer since 2008, had attempted suicide in 1992 when she took an overdose and tried to cut her wrists, the court heard.

But Mr Phillips and her psychiatrist Dr William Shanahan said that, in the weeks leading up to her death, there had been no indication Mrs Phillips would try to take her own life.

Summing up, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said Mrs Phillips’ mental health had relapsed leading up to the incident and concluded she had killed herself while the balance of her mind was disturbed.

Mrs Phillips appeared in James Bond films Casino Royale and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service before marrying Mr Phillips in 1982.