A WOMAN found dead in a Redditch flat died as a result of taking a cocktail of drugs, an inquest at Stourport heard.
The hearing was held at the coroners court yesterday (Thursday) and concluded that Stacey Sollis died after taking cocaine, heroine and prescription drugs such as morphine and codeine.
The 27-year-old was found by Leon Quinn, her ex-boyfriend at his home on Mill Lane, Church Hill on December 13 last year and he was initially arrested on suspicion of murder as it took him several hours to call an ambulance. By the time paramedic David Pilate got to her Stacey was already long dead.
He said her face was blue and he saw a syringe and a spoon which appeared to be used to take drugs. He got concerned about the amount of time she had been left there and called the police.
Mr Quinn spoke at the inquest and said Stacey was on the sofa and he thought she was sleeping and left the flat. When he returned and tried to wake her he said she was already cold which told him something was wrong.
“Normally with an overdose I would call an ambulance to try and save a life,” he said, “but I already knew she was gone.
“I was just in shock and did not know what to do. I was so distraught I sat there in tears talking to her. I went to a friend’s and asked them what I should do.”
It was reported Stacey may have been dead for up to 36 hours before paramedics arrived but Mr Quinn could not recall what time or day he saw her because of his own drug use. But he said he did not see her take the drugs and she did not get them from him.
Sergeant Nick Husbands said Stacey had been part of a drug rehabilitation programme and, after previously over-dosing, had been clean of illegal drugs for 14 weeks and on prescribed support medication for seven weeks.
Coroner Andrew Cox said: “The situation here is that Stacey died in circumstances that I see all too often. What was unusual about this was that there was no call for emergency services for a considerable amount of time which raised a large amount of suspicion, and a police investigation. Quite rightly so.
“When people who have used drugs for a long time and stop, their tolerance level goes down so if, or when they suffer a relapse they take what they would have usually taken and it can often be fatal.
“It seems she was at a crossroads in her life and had she taken another path things may have been quite different.”
