Sarah Barrett's family say she was 'let down' by social services in Brighton

Sarah Barrett had been at William Collier House in North Road, Brighton, just over a month when she died from a heroin overdose.

The 41-year-old, who suffered with Schizoaffective disorder, had been found unresponsive in another resident's room at the supported living accommodation on the morning of May 1 last year.

The inquest into her death at Brighton Coroner's Court on Wednesday heard that a resident, referred to only as Steve, had raised the alarm through the intercom system at about 11.15am when he realised Sarah needed help.

Staff attended and gave Sarah CPR and an ambulance was called.

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Paramedics did manage to find a pulse and Sarah was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital and put on a ventilator.

However she had suffered a severe brain injury and died the following day at 4.10pm.

William Collier House in North Road, Brighton

The court heard that Sarah had withdrawn some cash and accompanied Steve in a taxi to buy drugs on the morning of May 1.

The pair had bought bags of heroin and crack cocaine and returned to Steve's room.

DI Dominic Marini at Sussex Police said Steve had reported "having his back" to Sarah at the other end of his bed while they both prepared their drugs, and he did not witness her taking them.

DI Marini said: "We carried out a very full investigation. Part of that investigation is to look at whether the drugs were administered by someone else, but there was nothing to support that here.

"There was no criminal prosecution as a result."

The court heard Sarah had suffered with her mental health for many years and had a history of substance misuse, but was not a daily user of drugs.

She had been living in accommodation in Eastbourne but was evicted in January last year due to "disruptive behaviour" and placed in the Savoy Court hotel.

Sarah had been supported by the Assertive Outreach Team and had initially been placed on the waiting list for the Equinox Brighton accommodation service for homeless women, but a meeting due to take place on March 18 was cancelled due to coronavirus.

She was then moved to William Collier House, run by Brighton YMCA, in late March.

The court heard she had been placed at the house ten years previously.

Social worker Bruce Dyer reported he had spoken with Sarah in April and she was angry about being placed at the house again.

He said: "She wanted to go back to Eastbourne and had concerns about drugs, which were raised with staff."

Sarah's family said William Collier House was not suitable for Sarah, and questioned the level of support she received from her keyworker.

The inquest heard Sarah's keyworker had struggled to engage with her, and it was "sort of the whole team key-working her".

The coroner concluded Sarah's death was drug-related and gave her medical cause of death as a hypoxic brain injury due to a cardiac arrest, as a result of heroin toxicity.

She said: "There's a problem for people who have to deal with mental health problems in the community.

"When you offer support for care in the community you put the onus still on that person to take control of their life, and if you are not able to you will probably come to the conclusion that this was not the appropriate care.

"But the alternative would be to take away freedoms. The hope is that with enough support, they can take control of their lives.

"Sarah had many things to cope with, as well as being very well-liked, gregarious and generous.

"There was a very full investigation by police."

Speaking after the hearing, Sarah's aunt Lyn Hall said: "Really she should never have been placed at William Collier House in the first place.

"People there were taking drugs and she had started using again. She said she was getting bullied and people were asking her for money.

"I personally think she was really let down by social services and this could have been avoided."

Lyn also said she was "astounded" that police were called to William Collier House at 2.45pm, more than three hours after Sarah had been found unresponsive.

She added: "Trying to get information from William Collier House has been very difficult.

"Sarah was not the first person to die there."

A spokesman for Brighton YMCA said: "Sarah had only been living at William Collier House for a short time before she was admitted to hospital.

"Sarah was well-liked and her tragic death came as a shock to our staff team.

"It is standard practice to only provide a report if asked to by HM Coroner office, and we were not, on this occasion.

"We offer our deepest sympathy to Sarah’s family, our thoughts are with them."