A 35-year-old woman who had taken intravenous drugs since she was a teenager died after overdosing on cocaine and morphine.

Emma Goodchild was discovered by her friend Jonathon Norman in the bathroom of his home in Clements Road, Ramsgate, with a needle in her arm on the morning of Sunday, November 18.

An inquest into her death today heard he checked her neck for a pulse before calling for an ambulance.

In a statement read out at the hearing, he said: “The night before, I went to bed at 11pm. At that time Emma was in her bedroom trying to sleep.

“When I went to the toilet the next morning I found her in the bath. I felt her neck; she was cold and rigid.”

Emma was declared dead at the scene just after 7.30am.

After arriving there just before 9am, police discovered a blood-stained tissue under the bathroom sink, an empty syringe and wraps of heroin.

Investigating officer Det Serg Shelah Thompson stated there “was no sign of a disturbance and no evidence to suggest” Emma had committed suicide.

“Emma had used drugs most of her adult life,” she continued.

“She was previously charged for possession with intent to supply and had a history of fraud and drug offences.”

Det Serg Thompson added that she had been staying with Mr Norman and his partner, Zena Watts, after her mother, Maureen, had found her “cooking up” at her home in Newington Road, Ramsgate.

However, Maureen told the inquest she “did not realise Emma was as bad as she was.”

Mr Norman also noted that over the 18 months he had known her there had been “a decline in her health”.

She had been complaining of breathlessness and a post-mortem found she was suffering from pneumonia, had infected ulcers on her legs and had previously contracted hepatitis C.

Assistant coroner Ian Goldup concluded that Emma’s death was as a result of an overdose of morphine and cocaine.

He then told Maureen: “I’m sorry for your loss. It’s an awful way to lose a child.”