The night of drugs and booze that ended in a young…

The night of drugs and booze that ended in a young woman's death - and landed her partner in court

A man gave his partner crack cocaine hours before she died having taken a cocktail of drugs and alcohol. Rebecca Walsh was found dead the day after a night with Graham Waldren and a friend.

Ms Walsh, 28, took some of the £120-worth of crack Waldren had, along with some of his prescription methadone, and drank alcohol. She was found unresponsive in her bedroom the following day.

Medics were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead. At an inquest into Ms Walsh's death, a pathologist determined the cause of death to be a combination of an anti-depressant; methadone; cocaine; and alcohol.

Assistant coroner Michael Salt recorded a conclusion of 'drug and alcohol-related death'. As police made their enquiries, Waldren, from Oldham, admitted he had bought what he believed to be crack cocaine.

Pleading guilty to attempting to supply class A drugs, he was handed a community order at Minshull Street Crown Court. Prosecuting, David Farley said that on March 28, 2021, Ms Walsh suffered a cardiac arrest and sadly died.

A post mortem was inconclusive and found no reason for Ms Walsh's cardiac arrest. "It's right to say she had a high level of prescription and non-prescription drugs, including crack cocaine, in her system," the prosecutor said.

The couple were with a friend at their home on Kelverlow Street, Oldham, drinking alcohol and taking drugs. Waldren, a recovering heroin addict, told police he and the friend bought £120-worth of crack cocaine at Ms Walsh's request.

"The defendant believed he provided the money and their friend provided the drugs," Mr Farley said. "He believed what had been provided was crack cocaine."

Waldren had been six months clean at the time and was using prescription methadone. He said he went to the bathroom and during that time Rebecca had used some of the methadone. The group then fell asleep but sadly Rebecca didn’t wake up.

Waldren pleaded guilty to attempting to supply class A drugs on the basis of it being for 'social supply' rather than for financial gain. He had previous convictions, mostly for being drunk and disorderly, and was last in the dock in 2014.

Mitigating, Keith Harrison said: "It's a sad case. It's an unusual case. This really is the case of him being negligent and not realising the consequences of what was happening at the time. The three were taking drugs, the deceased sadly took the methadone.

"There was nothing he could have done to stop her taking the drugs. He has deprived himself of his partner, which was an enormous shock to his system."

Sentencing, Recorder Abigail Hudson said: "These offences are extraordinarily distressing to you, and you have been adhering to your methadone since Rebecca Walsh's sad passing. I accept you are making long overdue changes. You had been trying to get clean.

"Something she took caused her death, it is unclear what could be said that caused or materially contributed to her death. Whatever you gave her can't be said to materially contribute to her death.

"I accept this was for social supply, not financial gain."

Waldren, of Plymouth Street, Oldham, was handed a two-year community order and ordered to complete 40 days of rehabilitation activity requirements. Concluding the hearing, the judge added: "This court and everybody in it expresses sincere condolences for the loss of Rebecca Walsh.!

Following Ms Walsh's inquest, sister Linsday, 29, and long-time friend Laura Ali, 28, paid tribute in a touching joint statement. "Becky was a kind and amazing sister, mother and friend," they said.

"You couldn't ask for anyone better. She was caring and loving - everything you could ask for in one person. She had a lot of stuff that went on in her life, but it never stopped her from being the person she was."

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