THE family of Luke Walker may push for High Court action after a coroner refused to rule against a Greek court's verdict on the death of Walker's girlfriend - despite hearing evidence she may have died as a result of a drunken fall days earlier.

Luke from Brierley Hill was given a three-year suspended sentence after being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm leading to the death of 20-year-old Chelsea Hyndman from Castleford, West Yorkshire, on the Greek island in 2010.

The 29-year-old bar man turned electrician has always denied killing Chelsea, who died from severe abdominal injuries, and this week at a long-awaited British inquest into her death he said he wished he'd taken her to hospital sooner.

The inquest at Wakefield Coroner's Court was told Chelsea had been feeling unwell in the days before she was taken to hospital - but Walker said she had refused to go.

She was eventually admitted on May 16 with jaundice and severe stomach pains but died the next day, despite emergency surgery.

Medics found she had damage to her pancreas, which caused multiple organ failure, and Luke was initially charged with murdering her.

But giving evidence on the first day of the inquest on Monday, Prof Colin Johnson - a consultant surgeon and a specialist on the pancreas - said a fall while out drinking with friends 11 days before she died may have triggered Chelsea’s deteriorating health.

Witnesses claimed the young woman had a drink in one hand while her left hand was in her belt as she adjusted her clothing, and so fell without putting her hands out in front of her.

Prof Johnson claimed her left fist caught in her belt could have been enough to cause the damage to her pancreas.

On that basis, Walker's barrister, Andrew Scott, requested the coroner consider questioning the Greek's court's proceedings when delivering his own verdict into her death.

But area coroner Jonathan Leach refused, saying: "The proceedings were in Greece, a country within the EU, with a democracy and civilisation which goes well beyond our own, therefore the trial cannot be criticised.

"I can't make a determination inconsistent with what was found in Greece, where Mr Walker was found guilty.

"It means the only conclusion available to me is unlawful killing and a narrative verdict.

"As a result of blunt force trauma to the abdomen, my conclusion is that of a narrative conclusion."

Mr Scott said after the inquest that Walker's family intended to push for a judicial review into the verdict and Walker's solicitor Bill Bache told the News: "Counsel and I are considering the implications of this decision.

"I think it's likely there will be further proceedings in the High Court."