A BRIERLEY Hill man convicted of causing his girlfriend's death in Crete has admitted he wished he had taken her to hospital sooner.

Luke Walker was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm leading to the death of 20-year-old Chelsea Hyndman, while the couple were living and working on the Greek holiday isle in 2010, and he was given a three-year suspended sentence.

Walker still denies assaulting Chelsea, and at a British inquest into her death he told Wakefield Coroner's Court: "I would have taken her to hospital sooner. I should have made her go.

"I should have stood my ground and taken her."

The inquest heard 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 to hospital on May 16 with severe stomach pains and jaundice but died the next day.

Medics found she had damage to her pancreas which caused multiple organ failure.

On the first day of the inquest, medical experts gave evidence saying a drunken fall Chelsea suffered outside a bar 11 days before her death could have been sufficient to cause the damage to her pancreas.

Statements from her friends suggest jaundice had begun setting in - symptomatic of the damage to her pancreas - around the time Walker was alleged to have assaulted her.

Chelsea, of Castleford, West Yorkshire, met the Black Country bar man while working on the Greek resort of Malia in 2008 before they began a relationship a year later.

Walker was initially charged with her murder after witnesses described hearing the couple arguing after a night out in Malia in the early hours of May 12, 2010.

The court in Greece was told neighbours heard shouting and furniture being moved in the couple's room.

Walker, however, has always denied killing her and said she sustained injuries after falling on a beer glass on a night out.

The inquest continues.