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Former regional journalist killed by heroin overdose

A former regional press journalist who died suddenly while honeymooning in the Far East was killed by an overdose of pure heroin, an inquest was told.

Kristy Cadman-Jones, left, who once worked as a trainee reporter on the Birmingham Post, died at the age of 27 while on holiday in Cambodia with her husband earlier this year.

At the time,  it was thought she had died from a heart attack, but an inquest into her death yesterday heard that the actual cause of death was a massive overdose of heroin which she may have mistaken for cocaine.

The couple, who lived in Leicestershire, were offered the drug by two travellers they had met in a bar on the evening before her death.

Her husband told the inquest at Leicester City Hall that he did not see his wife taking drugs that night, but admitted she had been an “occasional” cocaine user.

She died in her sleep on the night of 9 January in her room at the Regent Park Hotel in Phnom Penh.

Coroner Donald Coutts-Wood recorded an open verdict, saying the exact circumstances of Kristy’s death remained unknown.

He said: “It’s clear to me that the lethal level of morphine is due to Mrs Cadman-Jones using a very pure heroin.”

Kristy joined the Post as a trainee in 2006 after taking her NCTJ pre-entry exams.

She also did work experience with a number of other Midlands titles including the Leicester Mercury, Birmingham Mail, Sunday Mercury, Leamington Courier and Coventry Evening Telegraph.

However she eventually decided against a career in journalism and went to become a branch manager in Leicester for financial recruitment firm, Robert Half.