A charity worker who suffered with anorexia for 28 years was found dead at home in Canterbury

A charity worker who had anorexia was found dead after her metabolism "may not have been able to tolerate a level of morphine she had taken", an inquest heard.

Pauline Weeks, 46, was found dead in her home in Hollow Lane, Canterbury by her mother Susan Weeks on July 6.

An inquest into her death was opened on September 4 and resumed by coroner James Dillon on Thursday (November 15) at the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone.

But Mr Dillon struggled to ascertain exactly how Miss Weeks died and adjourned the hearing pending more evidence.

Miss Weeks was last seen on July 5 at around 5pm by her parents, both of whom went to the inquest and had sent letters to the coroner to help him with his investigation.

Pauline's last moments

Ms Weeks had been looking forward to moving back to Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk to live with her family.

After visiting her mother the day before her death, she went back to her home and spent some time in the garden.

She then went to a neighbour's house to give them some produce from her own garden.

The following day, her mother arrived at Ms Week's home and let herself in through the front door using a key.

There was no sign of Ms Weeks so she went all around the house calling for her, the inquest heard.

The hob and oven was still switched on and the property was very warm.

There were cut vegetables sitting on a chopping board on the side as she had been preparing her evening meal.

28 year battle with anorexia

Mrs Weeks looked into the bathroom where she found her daughter unresponsive so she phoned 999 for an ambulance.

Police attended at 3.01pm to assess the scene but there was no sign of third party involvement.

Her medication was discovered in the house and she was conveyed to the QEQM hospital in Margate.

The inquest heard how Ms Weeks had endured a 28 year battle with anorexia and had spent significant amounts of time in specialist eating disorder units.

The North East London NHS Foundation Trust monitored her for nine months in 2017 in a special centre.

Morphine overdose

A post mortem was carried out on July 11 which revealed the cause of death to be a fatal morphine overdose.

Miss Weeks was described as a "severely emaciated middle aged female" at 1.55m tall and weighing just 35kg, which equates to five stone five pounds.

The post mortem also showed her to have a morphine level of 793mg per litre of blood.

The inquest heard from her former GP Dr Horton-Zhar of the Northgate Medical Practice in Canterbury.

He stated that "higher doses can be tolerated" but that she "wasn't a regular user so didn't have a high tolerance".

This video shows how an inquest works

'It is possible her metabolism couldn't cope'

Her father explained how he poured a bottle of Oramorph - which he said was basically full - down the sink after her death and took her Zomorph tablets back to the pharmacy as he "didn't find it relevant" at the time.

The coroner made it clear that there was no criticism for doing this and in fact praised the family for "disposing of the medication correctly".

Dr Horton-Zhar said: "I didn't have any particular reason to think she might take her own life.

"It is possible that her metabolism couldn't cope with the morphine or she inadvertently achieved the fatal level.

"She was on quite a low dosage. 10mg is the normal starting dose. It didn't seem like something that would cause an overdose and it's a very high level for what she was on."

Anorexia Nervosa had caused Ms Weeks other subsequent health issues over the years.

She had endured a total hip replacement on both sides, had an operation to reposition her big toe and had also suffered with osteoporosis for the last eight to 10 years.

'Pauline was more positive in her final week of her life'

Miss Weeks had started a new Age Concern project and her father said he "didn't know Pauline to be so positive".

His letter read out to the court said: "Pauline was more positive in her final week of her life. She had made the decision to sell her house and move back with her family in August.

She was also "so positive about the anorexia no longer having so much control of her life" due to her improvement.

Despite her long history of eating disorders, the inquest heard how Ms Weeks was now doing well at the time of her death.

Her mother said she didn't think she would take her own life.

She added: "I could see if it was a year ago or so but she was was on her way back up now. I don't think she would have done it at this time."

Coroner James Dillon adjourned the inquest so more analysis could be done to allow him to figure out how Ms Weeks reached this level of morphine in her blood.

He said at the end: "I am very troubled because I could theoretically record a narrative conclusion but I feel I should get some more expert analyis.

"I don't feel it would be sufficient to conclude this inquest today without further specialist opinion.

"We have not been able to establish how this reading has come to be. I feel I need to make further enquiries to find out how that can be."