A hair salon owner died after taking cocaine for the first time at a New Year's Eve party, an inquest has heard. Francesca Phillips, 34, suffered a heart attack shortly after using the drug with her husband, Darren, who had bought a gramme of cocaine for £80.
The couple, who had not used the drug before, snorted two small lines two hours apart. Mrs Phillips also had a few drags of cannabis. She began complaining of backache and vomiting around 10.30pm, and later told her husband she thought she was having a heart attack as her chest tightened.
Mr Phillips called 999 shortly after 1am but an ambulance took 90 minutes to arrive. He made a second call at 2.10am when his wife was 'turning blue and struggling to breathe'. Despite 45 minutes of CPR, Mrs Phillips was declared dead at 3.30am.
The inquest on the Isle of Wight heard that the ambulance response was classified as Category 2, with a target of 18 minutes, but the vehicle arrived at 2.41am. The most senior clinician at the scene, specialist paramedic Fred Thompson, made a decision not to move Mrs Phillips to hospital, which the ambulance service's investigation found 'difficult to justify' and an 'error of judgement'.
Pathologist Dr Adnan Al-Badri gave the cause of death as cardiac arrest due to a coronary artery spasm caused by cocaine use. Det Sgt Tom Kenney told the court that dealer Jack Budden, who supplied the cocaine, was charged with supplying a Class A drug and received a two-year suspended sentence. He was later jailed for unrelated drug offences.
