No link to drugs in Lorraine’s death, court told
DRUGS were not involved in the death of Exeter woman Lorraine Cox, an expert has told her murder trial.
Lorraine, 32, had taken cocaine during a drinking session in the city in the hours before she died. But tests on her body found narcotics such as cocaine, heroin and amphetamine played no part in her death.
The findings of a forensic toxicologist also showed that Lorraine, a diabetic, was not suffering from a metabolic condition linked to a lack of insulin.
Azam Mangori, 24, is accused of killing Lorraine at his flat above a kebab shop. He denies murder.
His trial at Exeter Crown Court has now entered its third week with the prosecution focusing on forensics tests carried out on Lorraine’s remains.
The jury heard from Alicia Pitcher, a forensic toxicologist who investigated whether toxins, such as alcohol and drugs, could have contributed to her death.
Miss Pitcher told the jury she tested for commonly-abused drugs including heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy, cannabis and diazepam, among others.
None were detected in Lorraine’s system.
“Would you have expected to have found evidence of drugs if Lorraine Cox had taken significant amounts before her death?” asked the prosecutor Simon Laws QC.
“Yes I would,” said Miss Pitcher. The trial has been told that Lorraine spent the August Bank Holiday Monday drinking with friends in Exeter. At one point during the evening she took a small amount of cocaine with a friend.
Miss Pitcher said it was possible that such a small amount of cocaine could have been eliminated from her body by the time she was killed, allegedly by Mangori, in the early hours of the next morning.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Adam Vaitilingum QC, Miss Pitcher confirmed she had not been asked to test Lorraine’s remains for some other illegal drugs such as Spice.
The jury was told about a condition called ketoacidosis – which is linked to lack of insulin in diabetics.
Miss Pitcher said: “The conclusions suggest that Lorraine Cox was not suffering from ketoacidosis at the time of her death.”
The prosecution claim the findings help to show that Lorraine did not die of a medical condition linked to her diabetes.
Mangori is accused of killing Lorraine shortly after the pair returned to his flat above the Bodrum Kebab House at 2.45am on Tuesday, September 1.
It is not known how Lorraine died but the defendant admits cutting up her body and disposing of it in bins and in woodland.
The pair had not met before an encounter in the High Street as Lorraine was making her way home from the day spent drinking with friends.
In the days after she went missing Mangori is said to have used her SIM card to pretend to worried family and friends that she was still alive.
Police say they found evidence that Mangori used his phone to look for information about amputations and burying bodies.
But Mr Vaitilingum said the defendant’s internet browsing history was actually ‘entirely innocent’ and most of it revealed an interest in Bruce Willis films or mundane enquiries such as ‘how to make coleslaw’.
The majority of the messages on his phone were to his boss at the Quick Stop shop on Fore Street and to friends.
The disappearance of Lorraine led to a huge police investigation.
Family and friends printed hundreds of posters and stickers and travelled as far as Plymouth to try and find her.
Mangori was arrested eight days after she disappeared after CCTV linked him to the missing woman.
The next day police made their first discovery of Lorraine’s remains behind the kebab shop in Mary Arches Street.
The trial continues.