Sponsored by
Tragedy of teenager killed by fatal mix of drugs
A TEENAGER found dead after taking a cocktail of drugs had two boyfriends who also died from overdoses, an inquest heard.
Terri Wogan, aged 19, was found collapsed on a makeshift bed at a flat on West Street, Worsbrough, Barnsley, where her boyfriend Kevin Hyde was staying.
The Sheffield inquest heard Terri, of Pontefract Road, Cudworth, had taken methadone and diazepam before her death - but police were unable to find out where she got the drugs from.
Kevin has since died of an overdose, while ex-boyfriend Stephen Green was also killed after taking a fatal dose of heroin just months before Terri at the home they shared together.
Graham Hallsworth, of West Street, Worsbrough, said Kevin moved into a friend's flat downstairs around two weeks before Terri's death on November 14 last year.
He said Kevin knocked on his door at around 11am and told him: "Phone an ambulance, I don't think our lass is breathing."
Graham said he dialled 999 and went to the flat, where he saw Terri lying on the floor on a make-shift bed.
Jason Howe - another ex-partner of Terri's - told the court he was an old friend of Stephen's, who started seeing Terri in September last year when she was still using heroin.
Shaun Stewart, who lived with Jason at Hoyle Mill, Barnsley, said: "She found it hard to take advice and continued to live her life in chaos."
Jason said he later heard she was in a relationship with Kevin.
"I saw her out with Kevin in town," Jason said. "She didn't look her usual self. I said: 'You're using again', and she said: 'I'm dabbling'."
Terri's mum Carol Wogan described her as a "loving daughter".
She said she told her she had been off heroin for three months, but the pair argued over her heavy drinking.
Pathologist Dr Steven Beck said a combination of methadone and diazepam was the most likely cause of Terri's death. The two drugs can be fatal if taken together, but he added that heroin was not a factor in her death.
Det Sgt Rebecca Smith, from South Yorkshire Police, told the court Kevin and Jason had both been arrested on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs, but were never charged.
"I couldn't establish who either gave Terri the methadone and where she got it from, and the diazepam," she said.
Coroner Julian Fox recorded a verdict that Terri died from non-dependent use of drugs.
"There's nothing to suggest she intended to cause her own death, and there's no evidence she took the fatal overdose by accident," he said.
READ MORE
Join the Star reader panel
Main news index
Your letters
Features
South Yorkshire's environmental news
Kids Zone
More business news
More Rotherham news
More Doncaster news
More Barnsley news
Latest sport
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
