A MOTHER who had been unable to work for 10 years because of back problems took eight times the fatal dose of her medication, an inquest heard.
Blackpool Coroner’s Court was told Sandra Louise Moon had suffered from a degenerative back condition and depression for several years and was worried about losing her incapacity benefit in the days leading up to her death, on August 1.
The 57-year-old was found dead in a bedroom at her home in Hazel Grove, Stanley Park, by her son Ryan.
Her husband of 36 years, told in a statement read by Coroner’s Officer Ken Lord, how all had seemed normal when he went to work on July 31, but when he returned home with Ryan the next morning, his wife was in the back bedroom, lying half on the bed.
David Moon told how they had phoned 999 and the operator talked them through CPR until the paramedics arrived but nothing could be done for his wife.
Mr Moon said: “She had been unable to work for about 10 years due to a degenerative back disease and had depression since about five years ago, which she took medication for.
“In the days leading up to her death, Sandra started suffering from stomach pains and had also been extremely upset due to a tribunal regarding her incapacity benefit, as this had been taken off her.
“Sandra had been very worried about our income but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”
Pathologist Dr James Johnston, who carried out the post-mortem on Mrs Moon, said she had eight times the lethal dose of dothiepin – a prescribed anti-depressant and four times the dose of propranolol – a beta-blocker, which stabilises the heart – in her system. He also found codeine and paracetamol in her body.
Recording a verdict that Mrs Moon took her own life, Blackpool Coroner Anne Hind said it was such a large dose, there could be no other possibility.
She suggested Mrs Moon had perhaps been more worried about her financial situation than she let on.
She said: “We can only feel so sad for what must have been going through her mind.
“Mr Moon had gone off to work, she was alone and I think things must have just swept over her and suddenly she found her life was intolerable and she did not feel she was able to continue with it.”