A STUDENT from Bradford on Avon had been on a night out with friends and had been drinking before she fell to her death from a ninth-floor hotel balcony in Brazil, an inquest was told on Wednesday.

Zoe Louise Robinson, 21, was killed instantly in the fall at the Hotel Bahia Do Sol in Salvador at 5.16am on Sunday, August 14 last year.

The inquest at Avon Coroners’ Court in Flax Bourton, heard that Miss Robinson, of Iford Hill, Upper Westwood, had been for a night out after she and a group of friends had watched an Olympic football match between Nigeria and Denmark at the city’s Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova stadium.

The inquest heard they then went for a meal, returned to the hotel and went to a local bar when she had several drinks.After the game, one of her friends, Jouao Gonzaga, said they all went out for a meal at a local shopping centre before returning to the hotel to shower and change.

They later went to a local bar, the Taratino, where Zoe had several drinks, the inquest heard. Statements read to the court said that when Zoe arrived back at the hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning she was able to walk but was talking incoherently.

Shortly after 5am a taxi driver, Luiz da Salva, was in his car when he heard a hotel window open and the sound of someone falling. Forensic expert, Dr Alexandro Barros, said Miss Robinson died of severe injuries as a result of the fall.

She was a second year student at Aston University in Birmingham. She had gone to Brazil two weeks earlier to work as a volunteer in Juazerio, a city about 500km from Salvador and was two weeks into her six-week stay.

Dr Peter Harrowing, the assistant coroner for Avon, recorded a verdict of accidental death, saying he was unable to conclude what had caused her to fall.

The former pupil at St Laurence School in Bradford was studying a BSc in International Business and Management. She spoke four languages, including French, German and Spanish.

In March 42 of her friends raised £5,502 for Save the Children in her memory by abseiling 177 feet down a building at Aston University campus, by holding a raffle and by selling cakes and gift bags.

Before going to university, Miss Robinson had worked as a barmaid and waitress at the New Inn in Westwood and as a sales advisor at H&M store in Bath.