‘Binge drinker’ was found dead by her mother

JON MACPHERSON

A‘BINGE drinker’ was found dead by her mum after taking a fatal mix of alcohol and cocaine, an inquest heard.

Dawn Whelan, 44, was found collapsed in a living room chair at her home in Oswaldtwistle on October 27 last year.

It is believed she had been dead for several days before being discovered.

Blackburn Coroners Court heard how concerns were raised by the mental health team who could not get in contact with Ms Whelan on two separate occasions.

Her mum, Susan Haworth, went round to the house on Roe Greave Road at around 4pm and found her daughter.

Two empty bottles of wine were found in the kitchen along with some medication, the inquest head. Concerns were initially raised about the boiler in the property and whether Ms Whelan could have died from carbon monoxide poisoning. However, this was ruled out by pathologist Dr Richard Prescott.

He told the hearing that a post-mortem examination revealed a ‘high degree’ of alcohol in her blood and evidence that she had taken cocaine before her death.

Ms Haworth told the inquest that she last saw her daughter on October 19 and she was ‘fine’.

Speaking at the inquest about finding her daughter, she said: “I thought I wouldn’t be able to get in because she never had her door unlocked. I just tried the door handle and she was sat there in the front room. She was in a onesie. That’s how she spent her time, in a onesie.

“She had made a meal because the plate was on the floor all finished and the leftover food was in a pan in the kitchen.

“There was a carton of cream which had gone mouldy, hence that’s why I think she had been there for some time.”

Ms Haworth told the hearing that her daughter was “a binge drinker”.

She said: “She could start on a Friday and end on a Monday. She did do it [cocaine] in previous years but I didn’t know she started doing that again.”

Coroner Michael Singleton recorded a conclusion of drug and alcoholrelated death. He told the family: “As a parent I can’t even begin to go there. It’s not in the natural order of events to bury your children and you have my heartfelt sympathy for your loss.”