THE mother of a teenage girl who died from a suspected heroin overdose wept after hearing the body was discovered up to a week later.

Debbie Walsh cried into her hands when a Home Office pathologist told the inquest that Kate, 16, died during the festive season, possibly on Christmas day, at a cold “squalid” squat in Manchester Road.

Pathologist Dr Basil Purdue told the inquest yesterday that Kate, a former Highworth Warneford School pupil, was found in a upstairs bedroom laying down under a blue sleeping bag and among layers of clothing on January 3, 2004.

He told the hearing at Trowbridge Town Hall, attended by former postwoman Debbie and friends, that in all probability Kate died from a heroin overdose.

Dr Purdue stated this was “appearances consistent with diamorphine intoxication” after the post-mortem was conducted at the Great Western Hospital.

This went ahead a day after the tragic discovery of Kate’s body by workers boarding up the town centre squat.

“The findings point to heroin as the cause of Kate’s death,” said Dr Purdue.

“This cannot be proved because we do not know her level of tolerance. One person’s fatal dose may be another’s regular dose.

“Kate Walsh had been addicted to drugs over a significant period of time, but it seems likely that she was an opportunistic, rather than a serious user.”

He said Kate had 0.72 micrograms of total morphine per milli-litre of blood in her system.

He told the inquest that heroin quickly turns into morphine when entering the bloodstream intravenously.

Toxicology results also showed Kate had traces of cocaine, codeine – a common ingredient in street heroin – and alcohol in her body.

Dr Purdue said the exact time of Kate’s death was difficult to pin-point, but it could have been as far back as December 24 or 25.

He added: “We must be talking several days, but a week or so would be perfectly reasonable.

“It has got to be kept as a big range, but my view is that it’s pushed back to the beginning of that range.”

He said he was satisfied Kate had not been attacked or assaulted in the lead up to her death.

Kate, a once talented flautist, had been introduced to drugs by her addict boyfriend Alex Charlamow, 27, from Gloucester, it has been claimed.

Her addiction had spiralled out of control as she began injecting heroin and smoking crack cocaine, said David Masters, the Assistant Deputy Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon.

Kate’s mum Debbie and dad Anthony, a sound engineer, had repeatedly asked for help from social services and police, but they claim they did not receive it.

The inquest is expected to conclude on Monday.

Doubts over secure accommodation

A FORMER Swindon Council assistant director of Social Services said the authority was “cynical” about secure accommodation.

Jean Pollard, now a council director of safeguarding and corporate parenting, said it was not set up for treatment and usually housed young offenders.

As Kate Walsh was 16, any agreement to go into accommodation would usually be voluntary.

She said: “If it was the right thing for Kate, the local authority could apply for a care order so it wouldn’t have been impossible.”

She added: “We were cynical about secure accommodation at that time because they weren’t set up in any way to provide treatment.”

Assistant Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Masters noted that the guidelines said the measure should be a “last resort” for someone in Kate’s position.

But with her problems she may have qualified, he suggested.

He said: “It does seem that it hadn’t really been considered in depth at that time. It may not have been the right course to take, but nevertheless it doesn’t seem to have been seriously considered.”

Mr Masters went on: “My anxiety is that it was known that Kate was misusing drugs and was very vulnerable at a much earlier stage than December. It seems to me that there was a huge amount of involvement within the social services department, but the situation isn’t grasped – is it? – at an earlier stage.

“When it was clear she was with a drug taker who had relapsed, that relationship should have been sought to be brought to an end. It may have been difficult, I know.”

After a meeting, Kate rejected offers of supported lodgings and went home with her parents.

There she took up a Placement Agreement – a voluntary behaviour contract – but by December 30, 2003, she was reported missing for the last time.