Brit died in Thai hotel after 'unwittingly taking cocktail of street drugs'
A "happy go lucky" and "caring" young British woman died while on holiday in Thailand after accidentally consuming a lethal cocktail of drugs, an inquest heard.
Rebecca Turner, 36, died in a Bangkok hotel room after taking what she thought was a line of cocaine with her partner. But the white powder was actually a lethal combination of drugs including painkillers, sleeping pills, morphine and anxiety medication.
Now her devastated mother has warned other travellers to stay away from street drugs while travelling in Thailand. Anita Turner, 64, from Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, said: "It's so, so dangerous out there. There are loads of drug deaths all the time. It's shocking. I would warn people to stay away from recreational drugs out there because you simply don't know what's in it."
She condemned Thai police and said the drugs were bought from a street drug pusher just yards from a police station on a road notorious for tourist deaths. She said: "There have been multiple deaths on that one road. Loads of people have died and yet the Thai police don't want to know. I'm absolutely heartbroken. It's been devastating for the whole family. I wanted to warn people going out there not to buy drugs. It's too dangerous.'
Rebecca had been travelling in Thailand to celebrate a friend's wedding in Laos in March last year. She and friend Sam Melnick, 32, a self-employed gas-engineer and plumber, had checked into the Khaosan Palace Hotel on March 12 and were due to check out on March 16
He had text a friend on March 15 saying he had just bought some cocaine, Mrs Turner said. An inquest into Rebecca's death heard the couple had planned to check out on March 16 but at midday a friend called the hotel to say Rebecca was missing. Hotel staff made several calls to the hotel room but received no answer so, as the guests were overdue for checking out, staff went to the room and used a key card to gain entry.
On entry they discovered Rebecca lying dead on her left side on the floor near the bathroom while Sam was lying dead on the bed. The inquest at East Sussex Coroners' Court in Lewes, was told a clear plastic ziplock bag was found containing white powder. White powder was also found spread on the sink and a bank note was found rolled up on the sink. The drug was ultimately found to be heroin.
Rebecca's body was flown back to the UK and an autopsy was carried out. The pathologist carried out toxicology tests and found evidence of multiple drugs in her system including morphine, monoacetylmorphine, noscapine, diazepam, codeine and trazodone.
The hearing was told Rebecca had a history of drug and alcohol misuse, depression and anxiety. But the 36-year-old, who had previously spent four years in Laos and described it as her second home, was looking forward to her travelling and was due to meet up with friends.
Coroner Laura Bradford ruled out suicide despite Rebecca's history of depression and mental health problems. Giving a conclusion of drug-related death, she extended her sympathies to the family.
Afterwards her mother, Anita, said she had visited Thailand three times since her daughter's death last year in a desperate attempt to uncover what actually happened. She plans to go back again in June to help provide assistance for children in schools in Bangkok which was a cause close to her daughter's heart.
She said: "I want to go back and help the schools for the sake of Rebecca, to raise funds and equipment for them. It was something Rebecca really wanted to help with so I'm doing it for her as well. But most of all I just want to say: 'Please don't do drugs out there'. It's so dangerous and you don't know what is in it. It's just not worth it. Rebecca was a lovely, caring person. She was happy go lucky really and we loved her. We are absolutely heartbroken."
Last year, six tourists - including a British lawyer - died in Laos after drinking vodka laced with deadly methanol. Trainee solicitor Simone White, 28, was among five young women and one man who consumed vodka at the £6-a-night Nana Backpacker Hostel.
Just 4ml of methanol, a common by-product of home-brewed alcohol which is sometimes added to bootleg drinks to make them stronger, can be lethal. All six people died despite receiving medical treatment. A further dozen needed hospital treatment but survived.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Astonishing act of bravery that sparked a revolution for gay people
Homosexuality was once considered to be both a crime and a mental illness, and gays and lesbians were vilified, attacked and pitied - but then something groundbreaking happened It's the kind of article which, if it were printed in a newspaper today, would raise eyebrows precisely because there is nothing the slightest bit shocking about it. A group of four gay men, sitting in a room, talking about their lives - especially as June is when we now celebrate Pride month. But the story that appeared in the Sunday Pictorial - the paper that would become the Sunday Mirror - 65 years ago this month, was both brave and revolutionary. And it would help change the course of history. Back then, homosexuality was considered to be both a crime and a mental illness, and gays and lesbians were vilified, attacked and pitied. The only time they were even mentioned in the media was in reports of 'gross indecency' trials - sometimes for just holding a man's hand in public. It was unthinkable, then, that a national newspaper might allow a group of homosexuals any column inches to defend themselves or talk openly about their lives, loves and feelings. But when readers opened their Sunday Pictorial on June 26, 1960, that's exactly what they saw. Presenting them as 'The Men In The Wolfenden Report' - a government-commissioned report published in 1957, which recommended the decriminalisation of homosexual acts - the newspaper said it had brought together 'four self-confessed homosexuals' in a Harley Street consulting room. 'One man in every 25 in Britain today is a homosexual. A shocking figure?', the story began. 'These men live in towns and villages all over the country. The problem of homosexuality is not confined to the big cities.' It went on: 'What are homosexuals like? Can they be cured? Would a change in the law free them to increase in number? Are they a basic danger to society?' The newspaper chose not to use the men's real names or show their faces, even though three of them had already taken the brave step of coming out publicly, by writing a signed letter to several newspapers two weeks earlier. Instead, in a sign the newspaper didn't think the British public were ready for full disclosure, they were assigned different names, ages and professions. One was estate agent Roger Butler, a forgotten pioneer of the gay rights movement, who is believed to be the first man to come out voluntarily to the entire British public. In what reporter John Knight described as 'a meeting of brutal frankness, often charged with bitter emotion', the men talked calmly about their lives, offering succinct and compelling defences to questions such as whether their 'disease' could be cured and if there was a link between homosexuality and paedophilia. ''The normal homosexual is revolted by men who run after little boys, just as a normal man, presumably, is revolted by men who chase little girls,' explained Roger, named in the story as Steven G, 27, 'a technical clerk and homosexual'. He added: 'Usually, homosexuals are attracted to men of their own age, although an older man may be in love with a younger man. 'Offences against young boys, however, are in a completely different category. The offenders should be sternly punished. They don't represent homosexuals. They are a sick minority.' When another of the men, described as an eminent surgeon, was asked if he wanted to be 'cured' he replied: 'This is an illogical question to people like myself. How can you want to be cured of something you know is incurable?' Another, called Leslie S, added: 'I don't want to be cured now. I tried desperately for years to become normal. I was married for five years, but it was unfair to my wife because I had no normal desires.' And when the question 'How can you tell if a man is homosexual?' was put to them, the surgeon pointed out just how many people in Britain were gay but unable to live freely. 'If all homosexuals were recognisable, then the streets would be crowded with mincing queers,' he said. 'There are 1,000,000 of us, remember.' The groundbreaking article - and the role of the paper that became The Sunday Mirror in changing Britain's gay rights laws - was unearthed by authors Christopher Stephens and Louise Radnosfsky as they researched their new book The Light of Day, a biography about Roger Butler. Christopher says the newspaper's stance was way ahead of its time. He says: 'Up until then the 'homosexual problem' was talked about as a 'social infection.' The whole of the debate around gay rights was couched in this idea of a disease which was undermining the social fabric of Britain, and infecting our institutions. 'Even those people who were fighting for reforms to the law didn't like homosexuals very much. They pitied them more than anything and saw them as a pathetic group who were never going to live a normal life, so let's just leave them alone because they're not doing that much harm.' Louise adds: 'It really was revolutionary for the Pictorial, at that time, to give four gay men a chance to speak for themselves, and to speak honestly. 'It was surprising, even shocking to me, a newspaper giving this opportunity to gay men. I'm not sure I would have believed it could have until I landed on it. 'And it was risky for the men too. There was no certainty about how the men would be presented, and it could easily have been a set up, especially given how newspapers normally covered the topic. It turned out to be the first time gay men were allowed a voice in a national newspaper.' The Pictorial was one of Britain's biggest newspapers selling over a million copies a week and the story changed the way the public saw gay men and propelled the gay rights movement forward. Just three days later, the British parliament voted on the recommendations of the Wolfenden report, that homosexuality for people over 21 should be decriminalised. It didn't pass, with 99 Ayes to 213 Noes, but among those in favour were some MPs no-one had expected, including Enoch Powell and a certain Margaret Thatcher. Louise says: 'It was defeated in the Commons, even though the government's own committee had recommended the changes, because there was still no political appetite to change the law. People just weren't brave enough. 'The Home Secretary at the time, Rab Butler, was known to be sympathetic, but even he didn't want to put his face to the campaign, because he was worried about how it might look politically, and whether people would vote for him if he did. 'Again it shows the climate against homosexuality at the time, and bravery of a publication like this one to allow gay men to speak up.' It took seven more years before, in 1976, the 1967 Sexual Offences Act finally decriminalised homosexual acts between consenting adults. The Act, which passed after a lengthy debate, received Royal Assent on July 21, 1967, marking a significant step in the history of LGBT+ rights. Christopher, who knew Roger Butler before his death in 2011, says the bravery of the gay rights pioneer - should never be forgotten. He says: 'He was a very humble man, a quiet, shy revolutionary who didn't like taking much credit, and whose contribution to gay rights has now largely been forgotten. 'He was the ever Brit to come out in public - and even while homosexuality was still a crime. And because of that Pictorial article, was in 1960 one of the four most famous homosexuals in the country. 'He established coming out as a political act, and we saw that become a fundamentally important part of gay rights campaigning in the 1970s. 'But he started to lose his sight in 1960 and had lost it completely by 1966, so by the time the law had actually changed he had had to withdraw from that world, learning to instead live as a blind man in 1960s Britain. 'But he was such an important part of the gay law reform movement and left a massive legacy which should be remembered and celebrated today.' The Light of Day: The first man to come out at the dawn of gay liberation, by Christopher Stephens and Louise Radnofsky, Headline Press
STV News
3 hours ago
- STV News
Madeleine McCann suspect ‘told police decisive questions can never be answered'
The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann sent a letter to police saying 'decisive questions can never be answered', according to reports. Christian Brueckner, who is in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, reportedly sent a letter to officers saying questions which would implicate him in the case of the three-year-old British girl, who vanished from the same resort 18 years ago, cannot be answered. In the note, seen and translated by The Sun newspaper, Brueckner reportedly wrote: 'It is the important questions, the decisive questions that can never be answered. 'Was I or my vehicle clearly seen near the crime scene on the night of the crime? PA Media A search team close to Praia De Luz, Portugal (James Manning/PA). PA Media 'Is there DNA evidence of me at the crime scene? Are there DNA traces of the injured party in my vehicle? 'Are there other traces/DNA carriers of the injured party in my possession? Photos? 'And, don't forget, is there a body/corpse? All no, no no.' It is not clear when the letter was written. Brueckner spent time in the Praia de Luz area between 2000 and 2017 and had photographs and videos of himself near a reservoir. It comes as German and Portuguese investigators finished three days of searching a 120-acre stretch of land near Lagos, Portugal, on Thursday as part of attempts to source evidence to implicate Brueckner. In the searches, requested by German authorities, crews spent three days scouring scrubland and abandoned structures. Brueckner is due to be released from jail in September if no further charges are brought. In October last year, he was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Daily Record
3 hours ago
- Daily Record
Second UK tourist found dead and 'naked' in Albufeira after Greg Monks body find
The latest death comes just days after Greg Monks, 37, from Glasgow, was discovered dead in the Cerro de Aguia. A "naked" British tourist has been found dead in the party resort of Albufeira just days after a Scottish man was found dead in the same town. The male, in his 20s, is thought to have died in a drunken fall after crashing down steps in the Algarve holiday resort's Old Town of Albufeira. The alarm was raised just before 7am on Wednesday, with news of the incident only emerging today. Respected Portuguese daily Correo da Manha reports the tourist was 'completely naked' when he was found at the bottom of the steps in an avenue called Avenida da Libertade. An autopsy has already taken place but the results have not been made public. Portuguese police are understood to have ruled out any link to a crime and are said to be treating the death as a tragedy linked to excessive alcohol consumption. It was not immediately clear today where the tourist had been heading from and to and whether he was staying at a hotel in Albufeira. No explanation has been given as to why he might have been naked, although police have not yet confirmed he had no clothes on. It comes after the body of Greg Monks was discovered in the Cerro de Aguia area on Wednesday. The 37-year-old, from Glasgow, had been missing for seven days after vanishing following a night out on a stag do. He is thought to have jumped over a wall and fallen down a steep cliff after becoming disoriented as he tried to head back to his holiday hotel. Police in Portugal said earlier this week he is likely to have died after falling into a ravine from attempting to scale a fence. Albufeira has increasingly been coming under the spotlight over the way it has gone from a family-focused resort to a partying Mecca that has reportedly brought more violence, drugs and loutish behaviour. British tourists holidaying in the resort were warned at the start of the year local town hall chiefs were planning on bringing in fines of up to £1,250 if they got caught walking along the street in their bikinis or swim shorts. Albufeira's mayor Jose Carlos Polo said he also wanted to tackle street drinking and the problem of holidaymakers urinating in public by introducing new penalty fees. Last summer a group of partying British tourists put on a shocking display of public nudity which led to locals questioning the type of visitor the town attracted. Footage of their drunken antics, showing them starkers on their knees in a line on top of a bar counter, went viral as Mr Rolo called the display 'deeply negative' and said he would call for police reinforcements. Eight British holidaymakers were later identified by cops. The GNR police force is understood to have discovered who they were following an investigation after failing to catch them in the act with their pants still down. The jaw-dropping scenes happened at Route Caffe 66 on the Oura Strip, Albufeira's equivalent of the infamous Punta Ballena party strip in Magaluf. One of the revellers was seen slapping the bare backside of a pal who was part of the bizarre party train the holidaymakers formed on the bar top on their knees. It was not immediately clear today what action had been taken against them following an investigation which was announced at the time.
