Pop star’s depressed sister died overdosing on 3 drugs all at once
The teenage sister of One Direction star Louis Tomlinson died after accidentally overdosing with a ‘perfect storm’ of cocaine, painkillers and anxiety medication, an inquest heard yesterday.
Felicite Tomlinson, 18, who battled depression after the death of her mother from leukaemia in 2016, suffered a heart attack at her flat.
Paramedics were called but they were unable to save her after she had been in cardiac arrest for 54 minutes.
Westminster Coroner’s Court heard the teenager started abusing drugs after her mother Johannah, 43, died.
her brother Louis, 27, who achieved worldwide fame and gained a £42million fortune with One Direction, tried to help her, taking her to appointments at a private drug addiction clinic.
But she fell back in with friends who were drug users and died in March this year after accidentally taking a fatal concoction that caused the heart attack.
She was found ‘lifeless’ in bed in earl’s Court, west London, by a school friend she had taken cocaine with the night before, the inquest was told. The aspiring fashion designer had become wellknown in her own right with 1.3million people following her Instagram feed.
Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said there was no indication that she wanted to end her life.
Recording a misadventure verdict, she said: ‘It was a perfect storm. I find no evidence this was a deliberate act to end her life.’ The inquest heard Felicite, originally from Doncaster, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following the death of her midwife mother who left behind seven children.
The heartbroken teenager’s GP Paul eulinger said she had ‘a history of recreational drug use on a consistent basis since the death of her mother.’
Following a series of overdoses, she was referred to a private drug addiction clinic in Belgravia, London. Louis Tomlinson took his sister to an appointment in September 2018.
Weeks later, Felicite was admitted to hospital after an overdose and transferred to an acute mental health unit.
She later spent two months at a rehabilitation centre in egypt where she was diagnosed with borderline personality and eating disorders.
She returned to the UK for Christmas against medical advice and fell in again with drug users. The court heard that in the weeks before her death she failed to show up for appointments with her GP and the drug clinic. She used a number of substances including cocaine, acid and ecstasy.
On March 12, she went to buy cocaine with her school friend Zainab Mohammed who saw Felicite snort a number of lines before she fell asleep.
Miss Mohammed told police that she found her friend with her ‘lips whiteish’ and called 999. expert Dr Susan Paterson said ‘toxic’ levels of cocaine, a painkiller and anxiety medication were found in her blood.
Dr Paterson gave the cause of death as ‘drug toxicity’, adding: ‘It’s the combination of the three drugs which would have proved fatal.’ Following her death, devastated Louis cancelled an appearance on the BBC’s Comic Relief broadcast.
The coroner concluded: ‘This was an individual who took drugs voluntarily and has succumbed to the side- effects of those drugs accidentally.
‘To some extent, I’m sure she knew the risks she was taking, but I do not think this was a deliberate act to end her life.’
her distraught father Mark Tomlinson paid tribute to Felicite in a statement at the hearing. he said she was ‘muchloved’ and ‘mischievous and wonderful with children’.
he added: ‘Felicite had huge hopes and aspirations for her future. She is missed by all who knew and loved her.’