Huddersfield woman who came to Blackpool on holiday collapsed and died after taking 'large amount' of drugs on train

Michelle Toth, 36, was found dead in her room at the Jesmond International Hotel on Charnley Road on the afternoon of Saturday, March 26 2022.

She had travelled to Blackpool by train with her friend, Helen Burnett, the previous day. Ms Burnett said that during the journey, both of them had taken large amounts of drugs, including heroin and crack cocaine, which Ms Toth had purchased from street dealers in Huddersfield ahead of the trip.

When the pair arrived in Blackpool at around 3.30pm on Friday, March 25, they made their way to the Jesmond International Hotel, where they continued to take drugs as they prepared for a night out – however, they both passed out on the bed.

At 1am on Saturday, Ms Burnett woke up and told her friend she was going out to buy food, and Ms Toth ‘grunted’ in response. Ms Burnett returned to the hotel an hour later and went back to sleep.

She woke up again briefly at 8am, before rising at 1pm.

In a statement read out at Ms Toth’s inquest today (July 27), she said: “I got up and dressed and put my makeup on. I then tried to wake up Michelle; I touched her and she was freezing cold. I shook her and tried to wake her up, but I couldn’t.”

She left the room and alerted the hotelier, Martin Hanson, who called 999.

He said: “At around 2.20pm myself and my partner were stood in the bar area and Helen came downstairs and said ‘I think my friend has just died’. She didn’t seem distressed or upset in any way, more confused.

"I got hold of Michelle’s right wrist to check for a pulse but I couldn’t find one, and she was freezing cold to the touch.”

Paramedics attended, and Ms Toth was pronounced dead at 2.45pm.

A post-mortem examination found high levels of a number of drugs in her system, including crack cocaine, heroin and methadone, and found her cause of death was multi-drug toxicity.

Handing down a conclusion of a drugs-related death, coroner Patrick Cassidy said: “Michelle Toth was a woman who unfortunately had a chronic addiction to drugs.

"While on the train, Helen Burnett states they have taken a large quantity of drugs for pleasure.

"On arriving in their hotel room, they have passed out. There’s some evidence they have continued to take drugs on arrival at the hotel, and drugs were found by the police at the scene, but what is clear is that the deceased is not seen to leave her hotel room thereafter.

"It’s not until the early afternoon of the following day, the Saturday, that Helen Burnett realises that Michelle cannot be roused, and contacts the hotelier and his wife, and as a consequence the ambulance is called.

"I accept the toxibology evidence in this case that multi-drug toxicity has occassioned death.”