Woman found brother and sister dead in Oldham flat moments apart | UK News
A woman found her brother and sister dead just minutes apart, an inquest heard.
Jade Couperthwaite woke up and found her sister Carla Couperthwaite, 26, unresponsive next to her on the sofa who ‘didn’t look right’ at the flat they shared in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on September 6 last year.
She shouted for her brother Stephen Fisher, 33, but got no response.
Bolton Coroner’s Court heard how Jade performed CPR and called an ambulance but paramedics were unable to save Carla and Stephen.
Jade said: ‘I thought, this can’t be real that they’re not breathing. What’s going on?’
Jade and Carla had moved into the flat together for a new start and Jade described her sister’s mental health as being on ‘top form’.
She said Stephen had ‘problem with his back teeth’ that he was taking morphine for, which she only later learnt had not been prescribed to him.
Stephen’s partner and the mum of his son, Zara Greaves, said he had a difficult childhood that impacted him.
She told the court Stephen ‘couldn’t talk about his feelings’ and would use drugs as a ‘coping mechanism’.
He had a habit of going on drug binges and would disappear for five or six days at a time, Zara said.
Zara said: ‘There were times I would sit there and think, “is he coming home this time?”
‘I kept saying you need to get help and I think that’s when he went on to binge.’
She said Stephen suffered with periods of depression and confessed he was depressed the last time she saw him.
He attempted to take his own life a year beforehand.
Steven Downey, a recovery coordinator at the drug and alcohol service Achieve, said Stephen had four periods of treatment between 2019 and 2023 but all were closed due to non engagement.
He would binge alcohol and cocaine and use a combination of drugs, including codeine, diazepam, and pregabalin on a daily basis according to an assessment carried out in July 2023.
The use of morphine and heroin were not noted in Stephen’s assessment, nor was a concern of overdoses or suicidal ideation.
A post-mortem examination found Stephen had superficial injuries but no life-threatening ones, no definite evidence of self-harm, and no evidence he had been assaulted but multiple drugs were found in his system.
Dr Ravindra Sawant who carried out the post-mortem said Stephen was not a regular user of morphine and his tolerance was not as high as a regular user.
His pattern of cocaine use made him more vulnerable to its side effects.
Carla had drugs in her system too, had no life-threatening injuries and there were no signs an assault.
He said morphine levels in her body were a ‘major risk to life’ because it can depress the central nervous system and respiratory system and said ‘the combination of drugs would have been fatal.’
She was involved in a a drug and alcohol plan prior to her death and undertook 12 psychotherapy sessions for anxiety and depression.
A conclusion of a drugs related death for both Stephen and Carla was recorded and it was found they did not intend to take their lives.
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