An inquest has opened into the suicide death of a Smith's Parish woman -- with a top US pathologist questioning evidence by the woman's live-in boyfriend that the couple had sex just hours before she died.

Elizabeth Cadell, 33, a former sub-editor at The Royal Gazette , died after swallowing a cocktail of drugs at her Harvey Hill Road apartment on May 31 last year.

Her boyfriend, policeman Tony Bukhari, claims the couple had sex at about 1.00 p.m. on the day Ms Cadell died. He says he then left the apartment and returned just over an hour later to find Ms Cadell's naked body sprawled on the bedroom floor.

A post mortem examination revealed Ms Cadell had swallowed about 150 aspirin.

Ms Cadell was devastated when Mr. Bukhari had earlier broken off their engagement after she confessed to having an affair with Royal Gazette Sports Editor, Adrian Robson.

But on the first day of the inquest yesterday, forensic pathologist Dr.

Valerie Rao said Mr. Bukhari's testimony "just didn't fit in with the medical evidence''.

She said that, because of the extent of rigor mortis and the temperature of the body, Ms Cadell must have been dead by 10 a.m.

"They could not have had sex at one o'clock, she would have been dead by then,'' Dr. Rao said.

Dr. Rao, who was drafted in to review the case at the request of Police, began her evidence by outlining Mr. Bukhari's version of events.

In statements to detectives, he claimed that he got home at about 4.30 a.m. on Saturday, May 31, after finishing work and spending some time at a friend's house.

He said that Ms Cadell was awake and upset when he got home. She went on a bike ride and he went to sleep.

When he awoke just after 11 a.m. she told him that she had taken an overdose of pills, but she then went to the bathroom and he could hear her making herself sick. He then said they had sex at about 1 p.m. and he left the house shortly after to go on a run.

When he returned at about 2.45 p.m. his girlfriend was unconscious.

Dr. Rao, responding to questions by attorney Dennis Dwyer -- representing Ms Cadell's estate -- agreed that Ms Cadell probably died in the early hours of the Saturday morning, between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. and would have taken the overdose several hours before then.

Dr. Rao also pointed out that Ms Cadell tried to page her boyfriend in the early hours of the morning while he was at his friend's house.

"She probably took the overdose on the night of May 30 and, realising she was in trouble, made the calls,'' she said.

She agreed that Ms Cadell would not have been able to go for a bike ride, make herself sick or have sex, as Mr. Bukhari claimed.

And she said that, had Ms. Cadell received medical treatment before she slipped into a coma, her life could have been saved.

When questioned by lawyer Delroy Duncan, acting for Mr. Bukhari, Dr. Rao said she couldn't say if the death would have been speeded up if the pills had been taken in stages.

Earlier the inquest, presided over by Senior Coroner Will Francis, heard evidence from detectives who investigated the apartment after the body had been found.

Det. Con. Brendon Smith said he discovered two half empty bottles of aspirin and an empty bottle of paracetamol in the kitchen trash can, along with a suicide note written by Ms Cadell.

The note read: "I know I have let you down badly and I don't think there is any way that I can make it up to you. Perhaps it's just best if I disappeared.

You deserve better than me anyway, you deserve the best. I love you, I always have, I always will. I am sorry that it had to end this way but I can't take the punishment any longer. I hope some day you'll be able to forgive me''. Mr.

Bukhari was in the court building throughout the day, but declined to sit in on any of the proceedings. The inquest is expected to last for another seven days.

Tony Bukhari entering court yesterday.