A homeless mother who had been ill for weeks died after taking fatal levels of heroin, an inquest has been told.

Michelle Pollard, known to most as Shelly and a familiar face at her former begging spot near the Eastbridge almshouses, was battling a severe chest infection when she collapsed in Canterbury High Street on March 21.

Despite the efforts of a bystander who performed CPR, and paramedics who made further attempts to revive her, the 41-year-old died that evening at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

Her partner was with her as she fell unconscious at 6.10pm and told police that in the days leading up to her death, Shelly, who had been living on the streets, was so unwell, she was unable to walk and talk at the same time.

As she became unresponsive, she started to cough up blood.

A post-mortem examination found Shelly was suffering pneumonia and an infection called mycobacterium africanum which has symptoms similar to tuberculosis and is most commonly found in west Africa.

But traces of heroin indicated the mum-of-three had also taken “fatal levels of illicit drugs” which contributed to her death, as well as her general frailty.

Reaching a narrative conclusion, assistant coroner for the south east Kent, Katrina Hepburn, said: “This all together caused her death. The infection, the bronchopneumonia, and the heroin toxicity. I can’t say that this was a natural cause of death because of the traces of heroin, which was at a fatal level.”

Shelly, who was helped over the years by homeless charity Catching Lives, was born in Canterbury and grew up on the London Road estate.

Terry Gore, who manages Catching Lives, described her as a “gentle soul” and said it was “incredibly sad” that her life ended in the way it did.

“I think Shelly, towards the end, had given up,” he said.

“I chatted to her on and off over the years and she was sensitive and incredibly damaged by a lot of stuff that happened in her childhood and during her time on the streets. It was just a real shame that we weren’t able to provide the help she needed.

“She would never cause a problem, she was always polite, and she was always grateful for anything you gave her. I’ll miss her.”

A total of 12 rough sleepers or former rough sleepers helped by Catching Lives have died this year so far, compared to six in the whole of last year and seven in both 2016 and 2015.

Of these, four had moved into more permanent accommodation but Mr Gore says he believes all of their deaths were linked to their time on the streets, with one client having succumbed to septicaemia related to an injury and two from endocarditis or heart infection.

In the wake of Shelly’s death, he says more outreach services taking medical help to homeless people are needed.

“That’s the only thing that would have made a difference,” he continued. “With people who have a dependency on heroin, their focus is where the next bag of heroin is coming from. Getting them to come to hospital or an appointment is difficult.

“It links back to the same thing - services. In the last ten years, services have been cut and cut and cut. Not only those for rough sleepers and homeless people, but services that affect us all.”