A TEENAGE girl who went to sleep and never woke up died of an undiagnosed rare heart condition, an inquest heard.

Annie Edwards was at a house party in Ditchling earlier this year when she was found motionless in the living room by a friend.

Mystery surrounded the 17-year-old’s death, but it was revealed at her inquest at Eastbourne Magistrates’ Court this week that she had an rare heart defect called Brugada Syndrome.

The Varndean College student, who was predicted to get three As in her A-Levels, had no symptoms and there were no warning signs.

Annie, from Southdown Avenue, Lewes, was described by her family as a “dearly loved, fit and healthy young girl” and East Sussex coroner Alan Craze said she was “physically perfectly okay”.

He said the party at the property in South Street was “pleasant, civilised and well conducted” and police said there was “nothing untoward”.

The group of 20 friends woke up on February 20 to find Annie dead.

They called the emergency services and an initial post mortem proved inconclusive in finding a cause of death.

Brugada Syndrome is a genetic condition which can cause sudden electrical activity in the heart which can be fatal and is a cause of young sudden cardiac death.

The condition was only discovered in Annie after it was found her mother also had Brugada Syndrome and the defect can only be detected through thorough testing.

Her mother said: “We didn't really register this could happen to a healthy young girl who went the gym was really into healthy eating who was bright and bubbly and lovely."

The coroner recorded a conclusion of death from natural causes at the inquest on Thursday.

Her cause of death was given as Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome caused by Brugada Syndrome.

The family is now looking to raise awareness of the risk of these often undetected heart defects and is calling on the Government to do more to introduce mandatory screening.

Earlier this year the Government’s National Screening Committee recommended against the decision to introduce free population screening to prevent sudden cardiac death – a decision slammed by campaigners as “letting down” thousands of bereaved parents.

Mrs Edwards said: “Unless you have the symptoms you are not going to know, so there are going to be young people who die every week from these conditions.

“We absolutely call on the government to take more action. It does not take much to have the test – it took me just minutes to find out.”

The family is raising money for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young who are raising awareness of these types of defects. It is estimated 12 young people every week die from undiagnosed heart conditions.

To donate visit justgiving.com/lewesannie.