Tragedy of booze battle mum found dead outside pub
A MUM with ‘everything to live for’ was found dead outside a pub after catching hypothermia, an inquest heard.
Victoria Cartwright, 36, had only been discharged from Wigan Infirmary days earlier and was staying in a nearby hotel used as a homeless shelter.
She was discovered by a passerby lying face down on the ground outside the Ball & Boot pub in Wigan on Boxing Day last year.
She had drunk ‘excessive’ amounts of alcohol and taken sedative medication before catching hypothermia, it was said.
A support worker who was based at the hotel attempted revive her with a defibrillator but she could not be saved.
Bolton Coroners Court heard that Victoria had suffered difficulties with battling alcoholism for a number of years following the breakdown of her marriage and difficulties surrounding the custody of her young son.
The hairdresser, of Bickershaw Lane, Wigan, had been referred to the care of alcohol recovery service We are With You in 2015, 2017 and 2018, before also completing a rehabilitation programme in 2020.
She was admitted to hospital on November 10 last year, following welfare concerns, where Dr Prasad, of the Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, said she needed 24-hour care due to alcohol-induced brain damage. He added she was often ‘confused’ and was ‘struggling to take care of her personal care needs.’
Despite this, she was then discharged to the Mercure Hotel, which Dr Prasad deemed unsuitable.
On December 21 that she was then readmitted to hospital again, where he said he reiterated the need for
24-hour care, but she was again let go again by the discharge team.
CCTV footage of the night before she died, Christmas Day, showed Victoria getting out of a white car on Orchard Street, at around 8.35pm, where she sat on a bench until around 8.42pm. After this, footage captured her ‘stumbling’ to beside the car park at the pub, where she was then not found until the following morning lying face down with two wine bottles beside her.
In a witness statement read out in court, mum Jean Holt said: “She was an outgoing person with everything to live for. She was doing well with her job and loved socialising with friends and going away on holidays.
“Her problems started when her husband got a promotion at his job.
This had a huge impact on Victoria and she started drinking.”
The court heard that the breakdown of her relationship and ‘custody arrangements’ of her young son had an ‘adverse impact’ on her health.
Jean’s statement added: “I feel great sadness at how she passed away and am trying to come to terms with how she did in this way.”
The court heard from Dr Baker, who carried out a postmortem examination, who confirmed that she had been found with 460mg of alcohol in her urine, as well as ‘therapeutic’ levels of a sedative medication. He added that she showed symptoms of hypothermia and that she had not been wearing appropriate clothing for the cold conditions. Support worker Daniel Fleming was informed of the body in the street by the member of the public. He found her ‘cold to the touch’ and ‘not breathing’ but proceeded to use a defibrillator to try and revive her.
Coroner Rachel Syed concluded the cause of death was accidental. She accepted the medical cause of death of being hypothermia and alcohol intoxication.
The coroner said she will be formally issuing a Regulation 28 prevention of further deaths report to the discharge team at Wigan Hospital because she had ‘concerns’ that she was discharged, despite the repeated recommendations of Dr Passad that Victoria needed a 24-hour care placement. She also raised concerns about the lack of integrated working between other organisations and staff at Wigan Infirmary following a multidisciplinary meeting where a recovery worker supporting Victoria from We Are With You said they were not invited.
She was an outgoing person with everything to live for Victoria Cartwright’s mum Jean Holt