‘Troubled’ young mum died after taking partner’s drug, inquest is told
A YOUNG mother suffering from depression and anxiety died after taking her boyfriend’s methadone, an inquest heard.
Nichole Bartlett, 25, of Ilkeston, overdosed on January 16, 2019.
The inquest was told she had been diagnosed with anxiety and had suffered a troubled past. Ms Bartlett had been with her partner, Paul Betts, for 10 years and was bringing up her five-year-old son.
In a statement, Mr Betts said: “She told me that she was raped when she was 11 years old, and did not tell anyone about it until she told her mother when she was dying.”
Sabyta Kaushal, assistant coroner for Derby and Derbyshire, said Ms Bartlett had told her partner she had suffered from a “bad childhood”.
Mr Betts said: “She’s always been a private person and I don’t know of any other serious things that have happened to Nichole before. A few years ago, Nichole was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. She took medication for these and I tried to make sure she took her medication but do not think she’d been taking them for a few days.”
On the night of her death she left her partner’s mother’s house, where they lived, in an “annoyed” state with a packed bag. Her partner was unaware of anything that had annoyed her. He went to visit her at her house at 11am the next day.
He found a note on the door left by Miss Bartlett that said she wanted to be with her mum. This, he assumed, meant she had gone to visit her mother’s grave.
That evening he revisited the house, got through the back door and immediately went upstairs.
“When I got in, I went upstairs straight away and saw Nichole lying face-down on the bathroom floor,” he said in a statement to police.
Her sister, Katie Norman, revealed both her and her sister struggled when they were growing up. She said that their mother, who was an alcoholic and drug user, failed to give them the love they wanted.
Ms Kaushal concluded Miss Bartlett took her own life, adding that her death was a result of taking her partner’s methadone.