A mum of two who was found dead at home told family members that she stopped taking drugs despite 'struggling with addiction'. Leanne Farnworth, 38, sadly died on May 16 this year at her home in Leigh.
During an inquest into her death at the Bolton Coroners on Monday (October 3), the court heard how Leanne, a hairdresser, had been battling with an addiction to diazepam which saw her take up to 'ten tablets a day'. The court heard how she had a history of mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and paranoia and would buy illicit diazepam pills to help her cope.
Speaking at the inquest, her mother Kate Farnworth told the court how Leanne, who ‘liked being a hairdresser’, started to have ‘some problems with her mental health, suffering from depression and anxiety’. The court heard how her mother had spoken to her a couple of days before she passed away and Leanne told Kate that she stopped taking the drugs ‘but obviously she wasn’t’.
READ MORE: Search for Moors Murders victim Keith Bennett ends after seven days as no human remains found
Her mother, however, told the court that she doesn’t think her daughter intended to harm herself nor end her life on ‘purpose’.
The court was filled with members of Leanne's family including her two children, representatives from the NHS mental health services, Greater Manchester Police and her GPs. The court heard how the diazepam use was triggered by her anxiety as she dealt with a 'traumatic childhood.'
The inquest heard how Leanne had told her GP that she was ‘struggling with continued anxiety’ and often ‘didn’t want to get out of bed and out of the house.’ and would ask for her dosage to be increased.
Leanne was found by her partner, Stephen Timan, who told the court that in the days before her death Leanne told him she ‘was struggling’ but didn’t elaborate.
He also told the court that during the weekend they spent together, he ‘suspected that she took something’ despite Leanne saying she was no longer taking illicit drugs. He told the court how during the two days he spent with Leanne he found a strip of tablets in her pocket which lead to an argument, and said how she would ‘sleep almost all the day’ and would ‘become verbally aggressive’.
The court heard how Stephen decided to leave Leanne after finding her ‘slumped on the toilet’ and as he was unable to 'cope' with her behaviour. However, Stephen told the court that she 'seemed okay’ as he was leaving and was asking him to stay.
Stephen told the court that he found Leanne on her bathroom floor when he returned on Monday morning and immediately called emergency services.
Her sister, Debra Rigby, told the court that she believes Leanne did not try to take her own life. She told the court how the pair would often talk about their up bringing which she described as ‘sad’.
She said: “She didn’t try to take her own life, if she did she would have done it with me. She never stopped the tablets, she was addicted to them she’d be at people’s doors asking for these tablets saying ‘please give them to me. I’d die without them.’”
A toxicology report found traces of prescription and elicit drugs such as diazepam, tramadol, pregabalin, opiates, codeine, morphine and promethazine in Leanne’s system. Pathologist Dr David Barker ruled the cause of death as combined drug toxicity and said the dosage of the drugs were not at ‘excessively high levels’.
Coroner Stephen Teasdale ruled Leanne's death as a drug related death caused by combined drug toxicity.
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- 'You don't go from sitting in a pub to being shot dead by police in 10 minutes': Heartbroken family of Manchester-born man, 24, desperate for answers
- Mum arrested at roadside after drinking bottles of wine when her car broke down walks free from court
- David Platt accused of punching taxi driver in racially motivated attack tells court he saw him masturbating
- Baby-faced boy tried to become gang boss after years terrorising community but was stabbed 27 times
- Andy Burnham demands Avanti trains ultimatum after passengers hit by months of chaos
Follow Manchester Evening News
