‘Beautiful’ girl, 18, died after taking cocktail of drink & drugs

A“BEAUTIFUL” 18-year-old girl found dead by her mother had taken “a cocktail of alcohol and illicit drugs” prior to her tragic death.

Jade Elizabeth Mitchell (below) died at her mother’s address on Thomas Street, Holyhead shortly after 6am on June 19, 2020, after being found unresponsive on the sofa.

An inquest into her death held in Caernarfon on Wednesday heard how the teen had been staying with her mum, Jane Mitchell, and a friend during lockdown.

Tributes flooded in for the tragic teenager when news of her death broke in the community back in 2020.

In the aftermath of her death, friends took to her Facebook page to share memories of the teen who was originally from Fleetwood in Lancashire.

One wrote “You will never be forgotten, I will miss you lots,” while another said that Jade’s untimely death has left them feeling “empty inside”.

Her aunt Sheryl Jones described Ms Mitchell as a “beautiful niece” as she launched an online appeal to raise funds for her funeral.

In a statement read out during the inquest hearing, Mrs Mitchell said that in the weeks and months prior to her death Jade had been under the care of the mental health team having tried to take her own life on numerous occasions.

She added that her daughter had been officially diagnosed with OCD, PTSD, social anxiety and ADHD and was “being bullied online and in person” in the lead up to her death.

Mrs Mitchell said: “I know she had a problem with substance misuse and alcohol – she would drink 12 cans a day.

In her statement, Mrs Mitchell also said her daughter had self harmed in May 2020.

“She was taken to Hergest (the mental health unit at Bangor’s Ysbyty Gwynedd) by ambulance but they wouldn’t take her, she was crying out for help,” the statement added, “I know she was being bullied online and in person, they would say nasty things about her and her looks. “A doctor had told her she needed to stop drinking because she had the liver of a 60-year-old.

“The day before she died we had been in all day and had a few cans. “I went to bed at 9pm and Jade got in and snuggled next to me.

“The next morning she had moved, I saw she was on the sofa with Tom, he was on top of Jade and her hands were open and blue.

“They were both slouched over, she was slouched and he was slouched over her.

“I knew something was wrong, I woke Tom up and grabbed Jade’s legs and pulled them onto the sofa and started CPR.

“She was so still, her face and lips were blue.

“I don’t think this was an attempt by Jade to harm herself, I think it was just an accident.”

North Wales Police and the Welsh Ambulance Service were called to the address but sadly Jade could not be saved and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A postmortem carried out at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd by Dr Brian Roberts on June 19 showed that Jade had “potentially fatal levels” of methadone in her system along with 79mg of alcohol and traces of diazepam.

Dr Roberts’s report also confirmed that cocaine had been detected in her blood along with its metabolite benzoylecgonine which is “consistent with recent cocaine abuse” and had been taken “at the same time as the alcohol”. Assistant coroner for North West Wales, Sarah Riley, concluded that Jade died as a result of respiratory depression due to methadone, diazepam and alcohol toxicity. Five months after Jade’s tragic death her biological father, David Jones (left), died after a sustained beating to his head at the home of his ex-partner and Jade’s mother Mrs Mitchell.

Gareth Wyn Jones, 48, was jailed for the attack, which the court hearing in 2020 heard had come about after Mr Jones and Mrs Mitchell got into an argument over Jade’s death.