Coroner finds Melton woman died a drug-related death

Kristie Bishop, who was 35, sadly passed away on March 25 this year after being found the day before in a collapsed state at a house she had moved to in Luton, Bedfordshire.

An inquest heard last week that Kristie, who lived most of her life in Melton, had been lying alone for up to 12 hours with a syringe nearby.

She was rushed to Luton and Dunstable University Hospital but, despite the best efforts of doctors to save her, she suffered multi-organ failure and died the next day.

Coroner Dr Sean Cummings told the hearing, at Ampthill in Bedfordshire: “Kristie was found collapsed and had been in that position for a prolonged period.

“As a result of that, the doctor told me she had a condition called rhabdomyolysis – where the muscles die and break down.

“It floods the body with toxins... the collapse was started with drug use.

“The muscle breakdown put a great deal of strain on her other organs, her heart and particularly her kidneys.”

Although Kristie was conscious on arrival at hospital, she soon went into cardiac arrest and doctors battled for 45 minutes to resuscitate her.

At 6.10pm Kristie’s heart started pumping again, but medical staff faced further challenges as her blood pressure was very low.

She was put on both a breathing machine and kidney dialysis, but the inquest heard that she was in a severe state of multi-organ failure, with ‘numerous blood clots’ in her body.

Sadly, Kristie died the following day.

The inquest was told she was last seen coming home from a party at around 3am on March 24, some 12 hours before she was later found unconscious by her housemate.

Samples taken from Kristie at the hospital tested positive for opiates and cocaine.

We reported in February last year that Kristie had appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show on ITV1 where she had openly talked about the challenges of living with her addiction.

She admitted conning people out of cash in the street to pay for her heroin and crack cocaine addiction.

When she first appeared on the programme she said she had ‘disgusted’ herself with her bheaviour, which had included tricking her own grandparents out of money.

Kristie, looking gaunt and hollow-cheeked, was filmed at her filthy flat, which had no electricity or hot water, and preparing to inject herself with drugs.

She agreed to go on a 12-week rehabilitation programme organised by the show and stunned viewers when she appeared again, having gained weight and looking much more healthy.

But she lapsed back into her old ways and began taking drugs again, an addiction she had struggled with for more than 15 years.

Summing up at the coroner’s court, Dr Cummings said: “My conclusion is that Kristie died of a drug-related death.

“That concludes the inquest and I’m very sorry.”