'Beautiful' Leigh Park woman died after 'terrible accident', inquest hears - as family questions remain

Leigh Park mother-of-one Jamie Smith, 23, was found “lifeless” with serious injuries by Crasswell Street car park in Buckingham Street, near Cascades Shopping Centre, around 4am on November 23 last year before later dying of her injuries.

A murder investigation was launched by Hampshire police which led to a 24-year-old man being arrested on suspicion of murder before he was cleared from the probe. The force subsequently filed the investigation subject to further information coming to light.

Since Jamie’s death just over a year ago, her devastated family have raised questions over what happened to the “loving” and “kind” mum who they believe was spiked by a mystery male who has never been located and quizzed by police.

But at Portsmouth Coroner’s Court, Jamie’s death was declared as accidental by area coroner Nicholas Walker. The court heard how Jamie had been with her partner earlier in the day before going out to a Christmas market casually dressed and then later ending up at strip club Wiggle in Surrey Street after visiting a casino in Gunwharf Quays, which was “out of character” for her.

Jamie, who was found to have ketamine and alcohol in her system, was seen leaving the club just after 2am with the man she had been seen “kissing” in the club leaving shortly afterwards.

After walking the streets, Jamie is then seen on CCTV cameras in Paradise Street near the Crasswell Street car park around 2.40am struggling to walk up the stairs while holding onto a bannister for support. Having then sat down on a “high up” wall, CCTV showed her falling backwards and hitting her head.

A car park security worker rushed to the scene to treat “lifeless” Jamie with CPR before paramedics and police turned up. She was rushed to Southampton General Hospital but was pronounced dead around 9am. The cause of death was given as a blunt force head injury.

The coroner said: “This most likely would have been an accident rather than something intended by Jamie at the time. She simply miscalculated, likely due to the alcohol and ketamine that had been consumed.

“But that miscalculation, misjudgement catastrophically and tragically led to her slipping from the wall. It was a very sad, very tragic and terrible accident.”

However, family members at the inquest raised questions of spiking with Jamie’s sister Jodie Quinn saying Jamie left Wiggle after “holding onto the door frame and tripping over her own foot” and was subsequently not seen on CCTV cameras for 25 minutes, with her saying there was a “big gap” in time, adding: “We don’t know what happened.”

Jamie’s mum Julie Stephenson said the man in Wiggle had “left 30 seconds after her” and questioned why police had not released an appeal with his picture to the public. “He needs to be questioned, he was the last person to see her alive,” she said.

Jamie’s phone was later found in a drain in the smoking area of Wiggle, with family questions over how it appeared there and was not located earlier. CCTV covering the area was not working at the time and the till did not keep a log of bank cards used that night, the court heard.

However, acting detective sergeant Mathew Egginton said the Major Crime Team had ruled out any foul play after a 50-strong team of officers and high ranking officials swept into action. He said the force had been unable to trace the man Jamie was with in Wiggle despite using facial recognition tools.

The detective told the hearing the man was not acting in a predatory way and suggested it was unlikely he had spiked Jamie after he did not stay with her the whole time in the club. “The point (of spiking) is to take advantage of the woman and requires the spiker to stay with them,” the coroner said, which the detective agreed with before adding of one occasion seen on CCTV: “He didn’t even look at her in the bar and walked straight past her.”

The court was told how Jamie had previously taken cocaine on occasions with detective Egginton suggesting she could have taken ketamine mistakenly. Jamie was found with 119 mcg of ketamine in her system per litre of blood and was found to be just over the drink drive limit for alcohol.

Yet during a phone call from the club to her cousin James Ayling, she was described as sounding a “mess”. Meanwhile, her sister Ms Tucker said Jamie was someone “too scared” to take ketamine while pointing out it was her daughter’s fourth birthday the following day which she was “very excited about”.

The inquest heard how Jamie had previously taken overdoses but these were put down to being cries for help. Julie Stephenson said of her daughter: “She was a loving and kind person who was always there for a friend in need and very close with her family especially with her nieces. She was an emotional person who wore her heart on her sleeve and would become overwhelmed with emotion.”

Julie described her daughter as having the “biggest heart” and was “fun” and “worked hard at being a mum”, but was someone who was “easily affected by the opinions of others” and a “worrier”. She added: “She was a beautiful girl who did not see herself as the rest of the world saw her.”

Mr Walker concluded Jamie’s death was accidental after she died from a blunt force head injury following the fall - with her suffering other serious injuries including a broken neck.

He said it was a “shame” the mystery man had not been located while conceding the family “just want answers”, but he ruled out any blame towards the police.

He went on to say Jamie had “entered the car park alone” with no one else seen in the area after she had “been on her own for some period of time that led up to that”.

“She sat at the top of the wall, she was there for a few moments on her own and very sadly, almost slowly, she seemed to slip from the wall and fell backwards with her head hitting the floor,” Mr Walker said. “That is a significant drop and certainly led to an injury that led her to die.”