A CORONER is investigating the death of a woman who drilled a hole in her own skull more than a decade ago.

Heather Perry, from Upleadon, was found collapsed in a toilet block in Newent last week and later declared dead.

The 41-year-old who was one of a few dozen people in the world to try a practice known as trepanning.

She made news on both sides of Atlantic when she performed the procedure with an electric drill in front of the TV cameras during a visit to America.

At the opening of an inquest it was reported that a post mortem examination had not yet established the cause of death.

Pathologist Jonathan Christie- Brown is awaiting the results of toxicology and histology tests which will be reported to the full inquest.

Graduate Heather, who was living with her parents at the time of her death, hit the headlines in 2000 when at the age of 29 she decided to try trepanning on a visit to the US.

At the time it was widely reported that it was a last ditch effort to cure her depression and chronic fatigue syndrome and she had been rushed to hospital after she went too deep.

But in an interview in 2008 Heather denied this and described the reaction as hysterical.

She told the interviewer she first became interested in the technique when she heard John Lennon was thinking of trying it.

"At the time I just thought 'Wow. That's a bit freaky' and didn't think much more about it.

"Then later on I did a lot of acid, which kind of mashed my head up a bit. I remember getting these pressure or tension headaches.

"By the mid-nineties, I started to realise that it wasn't dangerous, and decided that I was going to do it if I could find somebody to give me a hand. But that proved quite difficult, so then I let it drop for a while.

"One of my initial reasons for wanting to have it done was for more mental energy and clarity."

She contacted Peter Halvorson, an advocate of trepanning, who agreed to help and they let the CNN cameras in.

The BBC reported that at the time relatives and friends called on police to stop the DIY surgery, but it was not illegal in the US.

Heather injected her skull with local anaesthetic before the 20-minute operation which involved drilling a 2cm hole in her head.

In her 2008 interview she claimed it was an experiment in improving consciousness and although it helped her depression slightly for a short period of time, it was not a miracle cure.

Asked if she would consider re-opening the hole, she said "I don't know."

She refused to act as an advocate for the technique and told thousands of people who contacted her they should make up their own minds.

Heather hit out at critics by saying she was well read, had lots of friends, a good social life, loved her mum and dad, but was more experimental than most.