A beautiful young mum died suddenly on a night out with friends leaving her family mystified when her cause of death was revealed.
Jessica Gibson, 31, was on a family holiday from her home in Banbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland, with her parents, Andy and Jennifer Gibson, when she died on July 9.
The family had travelled to Blackpool on July 1 as a last minute break after Covid scuppered their plans for a holiday to Lanzarote, but Jessica went on to Liverpool to meet friends.
She had planned to fly home the following day but she collapsed at a flat in the city and was rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital, where she died in the early hours of July 9.
Toxicology test showed she died from an accidental heroin and cocaine overdose.
Her parents, both retired prison officers, told the Liverpool Echo there was never any sign that Jessica had taken heroin in the past and a court heard there was no evidence she was “drug dependent”.
Jennifer Gibson, who travelled back to Liverpool for an inquest into her daughter’s death at Gerard Majella Courthouse on Tuesday, said she had no idea how the mum-of-one had got hold of heroin.
She told the Echo: “She did like to have a drink I can’t lie about that, but I could not believe heroin. Nobody seems to know where she got it.
“We have asked the police about who gave it to her but they don’t know.”
Remembering their daughter, Mrs Gibson said: “She was beautiful, she was stunning, she really was.
“She was generous, generous to a fault even. I’ll give an example. We were watching the football in Blackpool, England vs Ukraine in the Euros, and she saw a poor wee homeless man sitting on the floor.
“She sat down with him and said ‘you don’t need to be sitting here, get yourself home’, and she gave him £20.”
Mr Gibson added: “She was really outgoing, she was funny and she was very confident and compassionate.”
The inquest heard a post-mortem exam was carried out which found no signs of injury.
However toxicology reports found alcohol and a high level of heroin in her bloodstream, which Andre Rebello, senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral, said would have been near fatal for a tolerant user.
She also had a high level of cocaine in her system which could have played a role in her death.
The medical cause of death was given as heroin and cocaine toxicity.
Mr Rebello said: “I understand Jessica had taken some drugs in the past but this was normally cocaine, not heroin.
“She was not a tolerant user, therefore if this level would have been fatal or near fatal for a tolerant user this level would suffice to explain Jessica’s death.”
Mr Rebello also told the court there was no evidence of injury or anything to suggest “drugs had been forced on her”.
However he slammed the dealers who profited from the heroin that killed Jessica.