A Reading drug user died from a prescription overdose when she was ‘doing so well in her quest’ to overcome addiction.

Isobel Stewart, who was 46 when she died in her room at the Salvation Army hostel on Willow Street on June 2, 2021, had been fighting her addiction with cocaine and heroine since the 1990s.

She was found early in the morning after her boyfriend urged hostel staff to check on her as she was not responding to his calls.

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Following a post-mortem, Isobel was discovered to have a ‘potentially fatal’ amount of prescription drugs in her system.

She had a prescription for three doses of methadone per week, which was prescribed as an opioid-substitute medication for her efforts in combatting her drugs addiction.

At an inquest into her death, Reading Coroner’s Court heard how she had overdosed on paracetamol in 1992.

In January 1999 she was treated for her dependency on heroine and in June 2003, October 2008 and September 2009 she attended drug therapy sessions.

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GP records continued into the 2010s and by December 2019 Isobel volunteered for support in fighting her cocaine and heroine use at Change Grow Live, a drug abuse treatment centre.

Reading Coroner’s Court heard how Isobel was taking £50 worth of drugs daily before putting herself forward.

She was taken in by the Salvation Army on Willow Street in the summer of 2020.
Sarah Williams, her support worker at the Salvation Army, said she saw Isobel for the final time the day before her death.

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Isobel told her she was doing well with her fight against her addiction as she had been sober from alcohol for three days and that she had stopped taking drugs.

As part of her recovery, she was prescribed medication and the court heard it was a ‘large and potentially fatal’ amount of prescription drugs that was found in her system following a post-mortem.

Alison McCormick, presiding over the inquest, said Isobel had no suicidal ideation and that she was engaging with local services at the time of her death.

She said: “Her death was not foreseen or expected by her social worker or her boyfriend.

“I would like to express my condolences to her family for the sudden and unexpected circumstances of her death, when she was doing so well in her quest to beat her addiction.”

Ms McCormick said Isobel Stewart died of a drug-related overdose.
The inquest took place at Reading Town Hall on Tuesday, April 12.