Drug-user Katy Dean was discovered dead by her cousin after they had smoked monkey dust together.

The 26-year-old was living with her cousin Tina Knapper and friend Ryan Meredith at Tina's home in Blurton where they had taken the Class B drug together.

An inquest into her death heard that Tina and Ryan went to sleep on a mattress on the floor of the bedroom, but the following morning she awoke to find Katy lying face down next to her covered in blood.

A metal tin with a white grey powder residue was found at the Hatfield Crescent property along with a cling film wrap which when tested were found to have contained Class B drugs.

The inquest, held at North Staffordshire Coroner's Court, heard Katy had been a drug user from the age of 21.

In a statement Tina said Katy would spend up to £50-a-day on monkey dust and had been trying to find more drugs before Tina went to bed that evening on December 17 last year.

North Staffordshire Coroner's Court, Hartshill

She said: "Katy spent up to £50 a day on monkey dust, I could do without it but Katy couldn't. We got up at 1pm and had something to eat.

"As soon as we got up we smoked a pipe of monkey dust at around 4pm Katy went for a bath. We ran out of monkey dust and at around 10.30pm she was trying to find drugs from somewhere.

"I woke up at 9am on December 18 and realised we were all in the same position on the mattress, Katy was lying next to me facing away from me.


"I noticed something was wrong and she had blood all over her face, I shouted at Ryan to ring an ambulance and they said to perform CPR. I heard absolutely nothing, normally I'm a light sleeper.

"She was freezing cold and I started pushing on her chest until the ambulance came." 

In a statement Katy's dad William Dean said she had had a number of jobs as a carer and gardener.

But he first began to notice her drug taking when she was 21 when she started using whizz and MCAT.

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He last saw her two weeks after her 26th birthday on September 20.

He said: "There were no issues with her until she was around 12 years old. I began to notice a change in her personality, she was not herself and started misbehaving at school. 

"Aged 13 I noticed Katy smoking and drinking alcohol. At around age 21 and 22 I first became aware she was taking drugs.

"Throughout her adult life she had various jobs caring, gardening and bar work. I last saw Katy two weeks after her birthday when she visited me at home.

"As soon as she came into the house I noticed she was under the influence of some kind of drugs. She sat down and started to cry. 


"I just sat there telling her she needed to sort herself out. She went into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich which she ate before leaving and I had no contact with her after that."

A toxicology report revealed a cocktail of drugs in Katy's system - MDPHP (monkey dust), cocaine and diazepan, which had caused her death.

Assistant Coroner Sarah Murphy concluded that Katy's death was drug related. She said: "This is very sad, she was found dead at home, face down on a mattress on the floor next to two witnesses.

"She had been smoking monkey dust and was last seen at 11pm on December 17 attempting to obtain further monkey dust.

"She had used cocaine, diazepan and MDPHP (monkey dust). I record a conclusion of drug related death."
