'Well-liked' Blackpool mum died in restaurant toilet and was only discovered two days later
PLUS: Talbot Gateway firm records significant profits for last year
Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.
Welcome to our new subscribers who joined us to read about the Metropole. We had lots of positive feedback about the story - but we also had some people who were unhappy we had reported it at all.
From our perspective - whatever your view on asylum seekers - it’s important that we tell stories that can challenge people’s understanding of topics. We hear a lot from politicians inferring how these people are having a whale of a time in hotels - and it’s not necessarily true. It felt important that we reflect that.
Today we report on the inquest into Sabrina Lyttle’s death. You may remember we reported on this in November after her body was found inside The Gurkha restaurant.
You’ll note we’ve not used an image of her for this article, and that’s simply because her family did not give the thumbs up for any particular one and we have no interest in simply taking one from Facebook, as is often done.
More regular checks of toilets in restaurant would not have saved Sabrina Lyttle
By Rachel Howarth
A Blackpool mum who died in a restaurant toilet and was left undiscovered for two days would have succumbed to drugs toxicity ’soon’ after she arrived, an inquest has found.
Sabrina Lyttle, 47, was discovered by staff at The Gurkha restaurant on Waterloo Road on November 30 last year - two days after she went into a disabled toilet and took several drugs, which led to her death.
An inquest into the ‘well-liked’ mum’s death heard how she was captured on CCTV entering the premises just after 8.30pm on November 28.
Two days later, on November 30, a member of staff ‘saw through the keyhole’ that there was a person inside. After attempting to gain access to the toilet themselves, employees at The Gurkha called Blackpool Police who sent an officer to break down the door.
Detective Inspector Liam Davy said: “It was cold outside and she had just been released from prison. I made the assumption as she was of no fixed abode and was wrapped up that she entered the toilets with the intention of sleeping there and sheltering from the cold.
“There was a crackpipe right next to her and a small amount of further drugs and a small carry bag with cherry bakewell tarts and a magazine.”
DI Davy said that his understanding is that the disabled toilets were not checked until November 30th, just before the call was made to the police.
A post-mortem examination discovered that Sabrina had ‘maintenance’ levels of Methadone in her system, as well as ‘therapeutic’ levels of diazepam and evidence of cocaine use.
Dr Richard Shepherd, the consultant forensic pathologist who conducted the investigation, said: “Sabrina had died of a mixed drug toxicity. There was nothing to suggest she had taken an overdose or a large dose of anything.
“It’s a very common finding that people who have been to prison, even for short periods of time, return to drug use and take levels which have now become toxic.”
Questions were raised about whether Sabrina could have been saved had the toilets been checked that evening, or the next, but Coroner Margaret Taylor leading the inquest, said that she believed she had died ‘soon after she went into the toilets’.
“If she had been found 10 to 15 minutes after taking it (the drugs) then perhaps,” she added. “Even if the toilets had been checked that evening there’s a very high possibility that nothing could have been done.”
Shortly after Sabrina’s death, her mother Christine, who was present at the inquest, posted to a public Facebook group that the restaurant should be ‘ashamed’, questioned the hygiene of the restaurant, and said that multiple customers had reported the door to the toilet where Sabrina’s body was found would not open.
A spokesperson for The Gurkha told The Blackpool Lead: “A non-customer member of the public entered the premises and asked to use the toilets. As the restaurant had already closed for the evening, directions to the pub toilets, which are in a separate area of the building, were given. Staff in the pub provided further directions to the general pub toilets and did not issue access to the disabled toilet.
“Access to the separate and locked disabled toilet is gained via staff as the facility cannot be opened with a RADAR key. The male and female toilets are deep-cleaned every morning and checked throughout the day, with the disabled toilet checked after every authorised use and cleaned as required, due to infrequent use.
“Access to the disabled toilet was not requested until Friday evening around 10pm. The staff with the assistance of other helpful pub customers were unable to unlock the door and as access had not been granted for the past 24 hours, it was reported as a maintenance issue to management. The following day on Saturday before opening, management was unable to gain access using all secure keys and removing the locking mechanism before alerting the police.
Sabrina, who was described as ‘respectful’ and someone who was well-known to, but liked, by local police officers, had been released from HMP Styal the day before where she served just over three weeks of an eight-week sentence for theft.
During her time there, she had been exhibiting drug withdrawal symptoms and had been prescribed Methadone as well as being linked up with charitable organisations Blackpool Horizon, Lancashire Women and Changing Lives, the latter of which met her at the prison gates the day before her death.
The court heard how Sabrina had been given temporary accommodation on leaving prison in a local hotel, but that due to her sentence being so short, no permanent arrangements had been made.
A report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, an independent body which investigated the treatment of Sabrina in prison, found that support had been offered throughout her time in Styal and plans had been made to help her on her release.
Coroner Margaret Taylor that ‘no more could’ve been done’ to help Sabrina, and that despite being well-liked by those who met her, she her life became ‘chaotic’ due to drug use.
She concluded: “Sabrina had been battling with drug addiction for many years. It wasn’t something she could really fight. There’s evidence that she did try at times but she lapsed.
“Whether it’s because she lost her tolerance after being in prison we will never know for sure. We know that it’s the substances that led to her death.”
The Gurkha restaurant declined to comment further on the circumstances that led up to Sabrina’s death, but have since told The Blackpool Lead: “We'd like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thoughts to the family. We sincerely hope they are able to find closure and peace during what is an incredibly difficult time for them.”
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