Death of mum is recorded as misadventure
A BELOVED mum who led a troubled life died from misadventure, a coroner has ruled.
Tina Robson, was just 35 when she was found unresponsive at the Bridge House Mission in Stockton in July 2020. The inquest heard she had a cocktail of drugs in her system at the time of her death.
Tina was described by her family as a clever, creative and artistic person, who was unique and stylish.
Her mother Sue said she faced significant childhood trauma and struggled with mental ill health and associated drug and alcohol addictions since.
Giving evidence at the inquest, Kelly Stephenson, a safeguarding officer at Bridge House, said she was on duty that day and had seen Tina return to the hostel just after noon and that she didn’t appear to be under the influence of substances.
She said: “I could see through the one-way mirror. As she walked in she checked her hair. She didn’t appear to be under the influence at all and she walked straight up to her room.
“There was nothing that raised my concerns from watching her.”
Ms Stephenson said by monitoring the CCTV cameras she could see there was a lot of coming and going in the rooms upstairs, but that was normal behaviour and the residents tend to move around.
Ms Stephenson said: “There was nothing out of the ordinary to draw my attention.” It wasn’t until around 5pm that the situation changed.
“I could hear shouting and I looked at the CCTV and I could see something was going on. A resident came to the door. They were shouting ‘Tina’s dead, Tina’s dead.’”
Earlier this week, the inquest heard from Dr David Scoones, a pathologist at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital, who carried out Tina’s post-mortem. Dr Scoones recalled that he was aware that Tina had a lengthy history of drug and alcohol addiction, as well as mental health problems and painful ulcers on her legs.
A toxicology report concluded that alcohol was present in Tina’s system at the time of her death, as well as a number of drugs including: diazepam, methadone, cocaine, pregabalin and morphine. The doctor said that the combined amount of drugs taken by Tina would have caused her central nervous system to be affected, which may have resulted in her death.
Recording a short form conclusion, assistant coroner for Teesside and Hartlepool Karin Welsh said: “Tina was a lady with long-standing issues trapped in a vicious cycle.”
Coroner Welsh said an investigation by Cleveland Police ruled out any third-party involvement into her death and said despite Tina expressing previous thoughts of suicide there was no evidence to suggest she intended to take her own life.
The inquest heard that both Cleveland Police and Bridge House Mission acted appropriately and followed procedure at the time of Tina’s death, despite family concerns.
Coroner Welsh stressed Bridge House Mission was not established or tasked to carry out routine welfare checks and ‘staff acted appropriately when the alarm was raised.’
Addressing Tina’s mother at the end of the inquest the coroner said: “I appreciate you have some very firm beliefs on how people like Tina should be supported. I hope you continue to advocate for people like Tina. I can’t begin to imagine what you have been through and I hope you can reflect on today knowing Tina is now at peace.”