Layton woman who died of drugs overdose was 'scared' to seek help for her addiction

Lynn Blockley was found dead at her Eastwood Avenue home by her husband, Terence Blockley, on the night of February 27.

He ran to her neighbour's house in a distressed state, knocked on the door and asked her to call an ambulance. But she asked him why he couldn't do it himself, said she didn't want to get involved, and shut the door in his face.

Mr Blockley then called 999 and told them what had happened. He then took a taxi back to his own home on Yew Treet Road in Grange Park to pick up an epipen in the hope of using it to revive his wife, from whom he was separated.

A paramedic arrived at the scene just before 8.30pm and found Mrs Blockley in a foetal position on her bed, surrounded by drugs paraphernalia. She was pronounced dead at 8.35pm.

A post mortem revealed high levels of morphine, indicating heroin use, and epilepsy medication in her system. The cause of death was multi-drug toxicity.

At her inquest yesterday, Mr Blockley told the court how his wife had struggled for years with drug addiction, depression and anxiety.

He said: "We were more like brother and sister than husband and wife. We were friends from the day I saw her. We basically propped each other up.

"I was worried about her. She always said if I ever told anyone she'd never talk to me again. But I did ring her best friend and her sister. I told her sister that her sister was going to die if she didn't sort herself out.

"Lynn had been using drugs since I met her. She used speed and ecstasy. If someone had a handful of something, she'd take it and she'd just eat it. She didn't care what it was. It used to worry me. It worried me a lot.

"She was a heroin user, but she had seen the way I had been treated by doctors in the past so she was scared to tell anybody. She was scared of the stigma. I begged her, but she said no. It's true, if people know you take drugs they treat you like a criminal."

Between 6pm and 8pm, he called her eight times but could not get through to her, so called for a taxi to take him back to Eastwood Avenue. There he found her unresponsive with a needle in her hand.

He said: "I took it out of her hand. It wasn't stuck in, she was just holding it. I knew she was dead."

Mr Blockley was arrested on suspicion of supplying class A drugs following his wife's death, but was later released without charge. Police sergeant Safia Swelim told the court: "Her phone indicated she was obtaining drugs from an unknown person, and Mr Blockley was aware and engaging in the use of drugs with her, but nothing outside of that."

Coroner Louise Rae handed down a conclusion of a drugs-related death. She said: "I don't find any evidence of Lynn taking her own life."