Girl killed by cocaine she used to spice up her sex life

13 April 2012

A former fitness instructor suffered a fatal heart attack after taking large amounts of cocaine to increase the pleasure of sex with her boyfriend, an inquest heard.

Kelly Anne Brittain, 27, had a seizure and died four days later from heart failure.

A Home Office pathologist told the hearing that cocaine was now the commonest cause of heart attacks among the young.

In a stark warning Dr Rick James said: "It is a little-known fact that cocaine can affect the electric conduction of the heart, leading to spasms and sometimes full cardiac arrest."

He said the only other major cause was a genetically-linked syndrome of which there was no evidence in Miss Brittain's family.

The inquest at Neath, South Wales, was told that Miss Brittain, a receptionist at a car dealership, was a regular user of cocaine and also swallowed Ecstasy pills in pubs and clubs. She and her boyfriend, Marcus Bradford, both took the drug after buying three and a half grammes for £150 at a nightclub on July 7 last year.

When they returned to their home in Swansea they took 'high' levels of the drug and began to have sex when Miss Brittain's heart 'shut down'.

Before calling an ambulance Mr Bradford sent a text message to a friend saying: "Kelly's had a fit, she's had a fit... she's stopped breathing."

Dr James said: "There was severe damage to her brain. The heart attack caused oxygen starvation to the brain, which was the cause of death. The secondary cause was cocaine-induced cardiac arrest."

Miss Brittain's parents Derrick, 47, and Patsy, 46, listened intently to the pathologist's evidence.

They tried to pose a series of questions through their solicitor to Mr Bradford, who had been in a relationship with their daughter for seven years, but he refused to answer.

Recording a verdict of misadventure coroner Dr David Osborne said: "I am conscious the family would have liked answers to questions about the way in which Mr Bradford sought help. But he is within his rights not to answer on the grounds he could be criminally implicated."

Police said Mr Bradford had told them that he bought the drug at Swansea's Revolution nightspot.

DC Philip Butt said Mr Bradford was questioned in connection with the possession and supply of cocaine but the Crown Prosecution Service decided it was 'not in the public interest' to take the case to court.

The death of Miss Brittain reflects the drug crisis which has led Britain to be named the 'cocaine capital' of Europe. The European Union's drugs agency found that the drug was the new 'stimulant of choice' and was more popular than Ecstasy or amphetamines. It found that one in 20 young Britons had used cocaine in the 12 months up to December 2005 and more than one in ten had tried the drug at some time. Demand for the drug has been fuelled by plunging prices which has left a line of cocaine costing as little as a cup of coffee.

Cocaine tightens up blood vessels, making the heart work harder and raising blood pressure. As little as two 100mg lines (a fraction of an ounce) is enough to cause chest pains.

Regular use puts a massive strain on blood vessels in the heart, causing it to age prematurely and increasing the risk of heart attacks. In 2003 there were 132 deaths directly attributed to cocaine.

A study at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London, found that one in three men under 30 who arrived at its casualty department complaining of chest pains had been using cocaine.

The three-year investigation found that on Friday and Saturday nights, as many as half the young people who turned up for treatcocaine

ment at A & E had cocaine in their system. The results of the study were published last October. Professor John Henry, a toxicologist and professor of accident and emergency medicine, who led the study, said: "It's a healthcare disaster, and it's coming here. We're going to see more addiction, more strokes and heart attacks in young people, and more of the other complications linked to its usage."

The study found that usage was higher in the under-40s - a third of this group tested positive for the drug on weekdays, rising to 50 per cent at the weekend.

In 2004, 8,070 people were convicted or cautioned for possessing or dealing cocaine - up 180 per cent from 2,880 in 1997 when Labour came to power.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in