Boyfriend tells of anguish after young Fareham woman dies from taking heroin bought on the dark web

A boyfriend who warned his girlfriend about taking heroin blamed himself for her death, an inquest heard.
HeroinHeroin
Heroin

Jordan Saxton admitted he was worried about Paula Cooper’s violent vomiting after buying drugs over the internet.

The pair would routinely take Turkish and Afghanistan heroin after buying the powder over the ‘dark web’ – a hidden part of the internet that is used to trade illicit items wuch as weapons and drugs.

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Portsmouth Coroner’s Court heard how in the build-up to Ms Cooper’s death she was becoming increasingly sick after smoking heroin with Mr Saxton.

‘Paula would throw up when she stood up after taking hits of the drug,’ Jordan said.

‘On one occasion I noticed she was breathing strangely so I tried to wake her up. After she sat up she was violently sick.

‘We had conversations about her not taking any more drugs but she was the kind of person who would do what she wanted.’

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Mr Saxton said he knew something was not right when she failed to answer his calls and text messages on July 19 last year following an argument.

‘I left Paula’s house after we had a row following a night out. The next morning I tried ringing and texting but had the feeling something not quite right and went round to her house.

‘I even joked to her dad when I arrived saying “has she woken up”. I then went up to her room and called her.

‘As soon as I saw her I knew something wasn’t quite right. She was very pale, her arms were down by her side and she had white froth coming out of her mouth.

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‘There was a heroin bag by her bed and she wasn’t responding. I tried slapping her then called her dad.’

Paramedics were called and continued attempts to resuscitate Ms Cooper, 21, en route to Queen Alexandra hospital where despite attempts by doctors to save her she was pronounced dead.

Mr Saxton admitted he panicked and hid the remainder of the heroin and cleaned the vase they it had been stored in before telling police.

He told the hearing: ‘I said I was sorry and that it was all my fault.’

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The inquest heard how Ms Cooper, of Kelvin Grove, Fareham, had suffered with depression and anxiety as well as confessing to having suicidal thoughts to Mr Saxton at the start of their relationship.

She had been prescribed medication to help overcome her problems.

Pathologist Adnan Al-badri said there was evidence of heroin use, as well as prior cocaine use, which combined with her medication would have caused a significant reduction in her central nervous system to 
the point she lost consciousness and died.

Injection marks were also found on Ms Cooper.

Coroner Samantha Marsh concluded Ms Cooper died a drug-related death.

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‘Young people experiment with many things but sadly this was an experiment that could not be reversed,’ she said.

‘The combination of heroin, cocaine and prescription drugs had a massive affect on her central nervous system.

‘Different people have different tolerance levels and while we don’t know how much she took we know it was too much for her.’

Ms Cooper’s mum Alison said they had no idea about her drug taking. ‘The only time we knew about was from a few years before when she took a legal high and ended up at hospital.

‘She said it scared her so much she would never take another drug again,’ she said.