A UNIVERSITY worker and mother-of-two went for an afternoon nap and never woke up, an inquest heard.

Maite Humphries-Farge was found dead by her husband at their Bicester home.

Pathologist Dr Ian Roberts told her inquest at Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court on Wednesday “there was no specific abnormality within the heart identified that could absolutely explain a sudden cardiac death”.

He said the 39-year-old’s post mortem was “essent-ially negative”, but said the cause of death was “most probably a sudden non-ischemic cardiac death”.

Darren Humprhies described his wife, who he had known for 25 years, as “a wonderful person sorely missed by everybody”.

After the inquest, he added: “It is almost impossible to pay tribute to her because she was that most rare thing, a genuinely good person.

“You would be hard-pushed to find anyone with a bad word to say about her, and she would not say a bad word about anyone else.”

The couple had two children, Tony, eight, and Sarah Jane, two.

Mrs Humphries-Farge, who was half Spanish and half French, worked as an administrative assistant at Oxford University’s Rhodes House.

Her husband said he first knew something was wrong on January 14 when he was called by someone at Tony’s school telling him his wife had not picked up their son.

He told coroner Nicholas Gardiner he thought his wife had taken a nap, had woken up late and was en route to the school without her mobile phone.

Mr Humphries picked up his son and went back to the family home in Lawrence Way, Bicester, where he found his wife in bed.

He said: “I thought she was asleep, but the moment I got close enough to see I knew she was (dead).”

The inquest heard Mrs Humphries-Farge had suffered from dizzy spells for decades.

Her husband said: “She had not slept well the night before (her death). She was bothered by a minor work issue.”

Mr Gardiner recorded a verdict of natural death and said: “The cause of death is somewhat non-specific but, although vague, I shall be recording a verdict that she died of natural causes.”

Mr Humphries said he would seek to get his children tested for any hereditary risk of sudden cardiac failure.

He said: “It is not really important how it happened, it’s happened... but it is important to know if there is a genetic link for the sake of the children.”