The chaotic drug and alcohol-fuelled life of a new mum ended with her death in a public toilet in Canterbury at the age of 37.

Heroin addict Emma Slater had spurned many opportunities offered by health and social workers to help her, an inquest was told.

Assistant coroner Ian Goldup heard how she was found slumped in a cubicle in Canterbury Lane in September last year by a member of the public.

Efforts by police officers and paramedics to revive her proved unsuccessful. A post-mortem examination later found her body had multiple needle marks and confirmed her death was due to heroin poisoning.

Mr Goldup heard that a mental health team had lost track of Miss Slater when she moved to Southwark in London a year earlier, where she had a baby just a few months before her death.

Following the tragedy, a case review by Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care, which runs mental health services, did recommend tightening up procedures to prioritise cases of people with complex needs and provide better cross agency working.

"I very much doubt whether anything more could have been done to prevent her death." - assistant coroner Ian Goldup

But Mr Goldup, who recorded her death as drug-related, said: "I very much doubt whether anything more could have been done to prevent her death."

Det Sgt Steve Mart, who visited and investigated the scene of the death, said he was confident there had been no third party involvement.

Mr Goldup also read a report by Miss Slater’s GP, Dr Martin Kühnen, from the Canterbury Health Centre, who said she had a difficult upbringing with an abusive father and alcoholic mother.

He said she had variously taken heroin, LSD, cocaine and cannabis and drank heavily.
He also reported that she showed signs of self-neglect and failed to attend numerous appointments.

She had been diagnosed with paranoid psychosis and hepatitis C and in 2011 had been detained in St Martin’s Hospital under the Mental Health Act.

Miss Slater, who was often homeless, fell pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl in Southwark in 2014, but she returned to Canterbury after her daughter was taken into care because of her own lifestyle.

Community health nurse Rachel Harris, who was her care worker until January 2014, said Miss Slater had led a chaotic lifestyle, regularly turning up at the A&E department, police station and city council offices.

She said: "We had trouble keeping track of her because she would miss appointments and was exceedingly difficulty to engage with."

At the time of her death, Catching Lives Centre manager Terry Gore said Miss Slater had visited the service and received support.

He said: "She was a lovely but incredibly vulnerable person. She was always extremely nice but her vulnerability meant she was sometimes taken advantage of.

"We had worked with the council to try and find her a flat and were all absolutely gutted when we found she had died."