‘Three people were there tell us what happened
Inquest is held into the death of Kerry Newman
ADEVASTATED family has been told they will likely never get answers as to whether a much-loved mum was dead when she was ‘dumped’ in an alleyway by two ‘despicable’ fellow drug users following an overdose.
The body of Kerry Newman, 40, was found at the side of a footpath in Rochdale by a man walking home from the gym on July 18 last year.
The grim discovery, on the path off New Barn Lane, initially sparked a murder investigation.
The police investigation found she was taken there several hours earlier, at around 1.30am, by two people later identified as Robert Halliwell and Melanie Bullen.
They said they had been taking drugs together at Halliwell’s flat on the Freehold estate and that they had ‘panicked’ after they realised she had had an overdose and died.
A court heard they ‘bundled’ Kerry into Halliwell’s silver Chevrolet and drove her half a mile to the path near Ashfield Valley Primary School and Sandbrook Retail Park. They left her ‘face down in the mud’ with her trousers lowered, before leaving the scene and returning to the flat where they were seen disposing of several bin bags.
They later returned to the alleyway, where they appeared to be looking for something, which police believe was Halliwell’s mobile phone later found at the scene.
A post-mortem confirmed Kerry died as a result of aspiration pneumonia, caused by ‘multiple drug toxicity’ having taken of drugs including heroin and cocaine.
Halliwell, now 49, of Olney, Rochdale; and Bullen, now 52, of Shirburn, Rochdale, were both jailed for two years each at Minshull Street Crown last November after admitting perverting the course of justice.
The judge said they had ‘dumped’ her like she was ‘some old rubbish.’
On Tuesday, February 13, an inquest into Kerry’s death was heard at the North Manchester Coroner’s Court in Rochdale.
At the hearing, members of Kerry’s devastated family heard said she had two sons and worked at Debenhams as a sales assistant for many years. Her loved ones said she was a ‘lovely child who grew into a beautiful young woman’.
The inquest was told Kerry’s mum Julie had now died, with her cousins Sian Dunn and Leonard Smith representing the family in court.
Ms Dunn said she was a ‘vibrant and central part of the family’ who was ‘well-loved in the community’.
She said she was ‘loving and trusting’, but that those traits made her ‘vulnerable’.
The hearing was told she suffered from a personality disorder and bipolar disorder and battled drug and alcohol addiction over many years. She was said to be ‘always open’ to working with health and social care services.
But in the months before her death, Kerry, the court heard, became increasingly ‘distant’ from family members and began disengaging with many of the services trying to help her.
Ms Dunn said she believed there was not ‘suitable escalation coordination of her care’ and as a result, there was a ‘missed opportunity’ by agencies to help her.
The family also raised
numerous concerns about what happened to Kerry and the investigation into herdeath.
“We’re concerned she was alive when she was abandoned,” Mr Smith said.
He asked Dr Charles Wilson, the pathologist who carried out the postmortem: “The judge at the crown court confirmed she was dead for 24 hours before she was dumped. Can you say from your examination if the state of Kerry’s body corroborates that or goes against it?”
“It would definitely fit in that timeframe,” Dr Wilson said.
Assistant Coroner Michael Salt said: “The concern is whether she had been mistreated at any point before her death.
“The circumstances in which she was found in were highly suspicious and have not offered her any respect.”
Asked if he was able to give any specific indication of the time of her death, and whether it was ‘likely to have been before she was in the alleyway’ Dr Wilson said: “It’s actually impossible to say.”
He said CCTV of her being placed in the alleyway may have helped if it
‘The circumstances in which she was found in were highly suspicious and have not offered her any respect’
ASSISTANT CORONER MICHAEL SALT