A tragic mother who fell into a coma after colouring her hair at home has died more than a year later.

Julie McCabe, 38, of Keighley had needed round-the-clock care for the past 13 months after collapsing when she started dyeing her hair with L’Oreal Preference hair dye in October last year.

Mrs McCabe had started struggling to breathe, then suffered heart failure and brain damage.

Mrs McCabe never recovered and was being treated at a rehabilitation unit in Birmingham when she died in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Her distraught family today confirmed she had passed away, but the cause of her death and the circumstances surrounding it have not been revealed.

It had been reported previously that Mrs McCabe’s family suspected she may have had a severe allergic reaction to paraphenylenediamine, a chemical which is found in hair dyes.

The mother-of-two, who had worked as an estate agent in Bradford, dyed her hair every six weeks but had never suffered a reaction before. She leaves devastated parents Keith and Brenda Miller, husband Russell and children Luke, 21, and Abigail, 16.

Mrs McCabe’s family visited her in Birmingham every week.

After the incident last year Mr Miller, 64, said Mrs McCabe had been rinsing the hair dye off after the recommended 20 minutes when she began struggling for breath.

She was initially taken to Airedale General Hospital in Keighley, where she was kept on a life-support machine.

At the time, a spokesman from L’Oreal said the company was “extremely concerned to hear about this serious situation”.

The spokesman said the company would do everything it could to help Mrs McCabe’s family and medical team.