A friend of a woman whose daughter died from drinking a heroin substitute has told how everything seemed normal on the morning of the tragedy.

Paul Norris said he assumed the two-year-old child, Frankie Hedgecock, was sleeping when he arrived and saw her lying on the sofa.

Mr Norris said he had been a friend of the mother, Lucy King, for about a year when he went to her Dover home on the morning of June 5 2015 to tell her about his recent holiday to Wales.

She had revealed to him about a month before she was taking the drug methadone. “I thought it was none of my business,” said Mr Norris.

He told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court he arrived at the house in De Burgh Street at about 9.45am. He knocked on the window and King let him in.

Mr Norris became upset as he continued: “I sat on the couch. I was telling her about my holiday. I saw Frankie. I looked over to my right and Frankie was by the window on the couch. She seemed to be asleep.

“I think she had a nappy and a top on. She was facing towards me in a sleeping position. She was on her back and her head was on the side.

“Lucy was next to me. She seemed cheerful really. We both did the talking. The TV was on. The Jeremy Kyle Show was on.”

Mr Norris said he did not notice Frankie moving in the 15 to 20 minutes or so they had been chatting,

He was going to take them shopping in the town and King went to get Frankie ready.

He told in his statement how King said something along the lines of: “She is not moving. She is all floppy.” He added: “We both noticed her lips were blue.

“I am first aid trained and knew something wasn’t right. I knew something was wrong. I knew we had to get professional people in.”

“Lucy carried her and laid her on her back near the dining area. She was calling Frankie’s name but there was no response. I decided to dial 999.

“I phoned the emergency services. Lucy was very upset. Once I got through I put the phone on loud speaker so we could both hear what the advice was.

“Lucy was pushing on Frankie’s chest. I saw green mucus coming from the nose and mouth. The ambulance came quite soon.”

Mr Norris said the first time he heard methadone mentioned was when King told paramedics Frankie had taken some.

“She didn’t say anything to me about Frankie and methadone while I was there that day,” he added.

The jury has heard the child died after the mother, who denies manslaughter, left the medication in a measuring cup on the floor behind the television the night before she was due to take it.

The prosecution say she failed to summon the emergency services until two-and-a-half hours after she suspected the toddler had drunk the methadone.

The court heard King had drug issues, having been addicted to heroin, and had been prescribed methadone for a number of years.

King was taking 96ml a day. It had to be taken under supervision and she would go to Boots the chemist to do so.

The exception was weekends when the service was closed. She was allowed on a Friday to take home the medication for the next two days under strict rules.

King had not yet collected her prescription on Friday June 5 but had been buying “top ups” from a friend.

Her mother Ginny King also told the jury she had not noticed anything unusual when she arrived at the house at about 8.10am.

Mr Norris agreed when questioned by King’s QC Oliver Saxby that everything was fine when he arrived at the house and then panic set in when they realised Frankie was unwell.

“It was a matter of: Oh my God, that is a serious situation,” said Mr Saxby. Mr Norris replied: “That’s why I dialled 999.”

He had said in a statement: “She is a good mum to her girls. She knows what she is doing.”

Ginny King said she made her usual call to her daughter at about 7.30am but did not remember what was said.

She made packed lunches and her garage owner husband Neil drove her to the house.

Mrs King said her daughter just seemed “as usual” when she arrived at about 8.10am. It was “quite chaotic”. She thought Frankie came to the door.

She said of her daughter: “She just seemed as usual. It was much the same.” Asked if “Frankie was running around and it was fine”, she said: “I think so. It is a bit vague now.”

Mrs King said she went on an errand and was back at her own home by 10am.

She then had a phone call from Mr Norris to tell her what was happening.

“He sounded confused,” she said. “He said words to the effect that the little one’s not breathing.”

Her son Nathan contacted her husband at work and he went to the house.

Pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary said King would have had up to an hour to seek medical help which would possibly have saved her life.

Methadone, he said, was unusual compared with other opiates as the effects were not immediate and could come and go.

He told the jury the “best window of opportunity” for medical intervention and possible survival was between 30 minutes and an hour.

Blood samples taken from Frankie gave a rough estimate of 10ml of methadone having been ingested.

“With methadone, its effects can come and go, including the intoxicating effects, and it hangs around in your body for a very long time,” he said.

“Because it is orally administered it can hang around in the gut for a very long time. You can have quite a delay from taking it to getting into difficulty.”

The progressive effects of methadone included feeling sleepy, dozing and snoring.

“Snoring might actually be a sinister sign that someone who has taken methadone is succumbing to a blocked airway,” he continued.

He disagreed with defence QC Oliver Saxby that Frankie was “in pretty serious trouble” from the moment she drank the methadone.

Dr Cary said once the child suffered a cardiac arrest the prognosis was “awful” and it would be too late to do anything.

Asked how cardiac arrest could be prevented, he added: “Simple supportive measures of the airway and summoning more specialist help such as paramedics so that they can administer oxygen.”

The court heard six paramedics, including a critical care ambulance crew, fought to save Frankie’s life.

She was lying on her side on the floor and King was kneeling beside her trying to clear vomit from her throat.

The first paramedic arrived within five minutes. The child was unconscious, not breathing, pale and blue. She had no pulse.

King was upset and crying. There was vomit around the child’s mouth and on the floor.

The mother showed the paramedic the measuring cup and said her daughter could have drunk up to 15ml of methadone.

She was given medication intravenously to try to counteract the effects of the drug and adrenalin to stimulate her heart.

But there was no response and she was taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford. She was pronounced dead at 11.04am.

“It was a matter of: Oh my God, that is a serious situation. That’s why I dialled 999” - Paul Norris

Paramedic Judy Butcher said King told her on the way to hospital she made her daughter sick twice by sticking her fingers down her throat. Each time there was a green liquid.

“Mum said she thought if anything was going to happen, it would happen within half-an-hour,” said Miss Butcher.

“She said they both then went and sat on the sofa and the child fell asleep. She knew she was asleep because she was snoring.”

King added Frankie was asleep when Mr Norris arrived.

The mother was crying, screaming and distressed when Miss Butcher arrived.

The court heard King gave a “very disjointed” account of what had happened when questioned by police officers at her home.

She said Frankie had dozed off on the sofa and when she awoke 10 minutes later, she was sitting on the floor playing with the empty measuring cup.

She vomited, she said, and was fine.

King said she did not seek medical advice because she thought Frankie would be okay.

The trial continues.