A DEVOTED mum-of-two died after accidentally taking a fatal combination of prescription drugs, an inquest heard.
Nichola Dawn Speake, 36, was discovered dead at her home in Water Royd Crescent, Mirfield, on December 21 last year.
Huddersfield Coroner’s Court heard yesterday how her husband Richard arrived home shortly after midnight that night to find his wife slumped on the sofa.
The court heard Mrs Speake had been to her GP six times since November 19 to receive treatment for anxiety and an eating disorder which had developed in the last two months.
The inquest heard she was referred to mental health professionals and prescribed medication by GP Katherine Smith at Mirfield Health Centre.
The court heard she was found to have an allergic reaction to some of the medication and twice visited A&E with a severe rash.
Her medication was subsequently reviewed and she was given further prescription drugs and told to stop taking the previous prescription, if she had any remaining.
West Yorkshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Tim Ratcliffe concluded it was clear Mrs Speake had taken a combination of prescribed drugs and ignored Dr Smith’s advice to cease taking earlier prescribed drugs.
He said toxicology also showed Mrs Speake had taken a fatal dose of morphine but said it was unclear how she had come about that drug which was not prescribed to her.
Coroner Ratcliffe considered all the evidence and recorded a verdict of misadventure.
Mr Speake told the court during the inquest it was ‘inconceivable that his wife intended to take her own life, particularly while their young boys were sleeping upstairs’.
He said she was always ‘immaculately’ dressed and ‘was a brilliant, lively, intelligent person.
He added: “She loved our boys.”
She also cared for her brother, who had been left disabled following a car crash, two days a week.
