Sharon Torrance: Cocaine caused death of 'bubbly and outgoing' Blackpool woman who had a sudden heart attack at 50

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that Sharon Torrance had been ‘letting loose’ to cope with stress relating to her housing situation, but wasn’t a long-term drug user.

Sharon was described as “bubbly, outgoing, and lively” by her daughter. She had no medical conditions, and was temporarily living at a friend’s house, where she was found dead on July 21st, 2022.

He called emergency services at around 1.15am, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

She was a mum of three and grandmother of five who worked as a barmaid at St Annes Golf Club.

Daughter, Cherelle Priestley, 31, said: "I spoke to mum about a week before. She had found a bungalow but it went to someone else, and she’d got her hopes up. She had been hanging around with younger people that were a bad influence on her.”

Pathologist Dr Dariusz Golka, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, conducted a post mortem examination.

He told the court that he found no underlying medical issues that would have caused her death.

She had seen a cardiologist, but had been discharged.

Chief Coroner, Alan Wilson, concluded that cocaine was the cause of Sharon’s death.

He added: “It’s a reminder of what a dangerous and unpredictable drug cocaine is. In this case it had fatal consequences. It had an immediate effect on her heart rhythm and arrhythmia that proved to be fatal.”