THE aunt of meningitis sufferer Tilly Lockey and her friend whose bodies were found slumped on a sofa both died as a result of taking a cocktail of drink and drugs, an inquest heard.

At first it was thought Helen Swan, 36, the sister of Sarah Lockey, whose daughter Tilly, six, lost her hands and toes to meningitis when she was just a baby, and her friend James McAndrew, 52, had succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

They were found dead at Miss Swan’s house in John Street, Blackhill, Consett, County Durham, shortly before midnight on July 10 last year.

Police launched a murder-style inquiry but quickly ruled out foul play.

Toxicology tests showed Miss Swan, a mother-of-three, and James, from Foster Street, Consett, had consumed a life- threatening combination of painkillers, alcohol and anti-depressant medication shortly before their deaths, an inquest heard.

Police launched a major investigation after the bodies were found on the sofa of Miss Swan’s home by Lee Grimes, who the hearing was told was a registered drug addict, and who described himself to police as Miss Swan’s partner.

Mr Grimes had been with Miss Swan the previous day when the pair went to collect prescription medication and to buy alcohol from the nearby Spar supermarket.

Mr McAndrew joined Miss Swan later that evening and the pair took methadone, codeine, fluoxetine and diazepam and drank a mixture of vodka, wine and cider.

Pathologist Dr Mark Egan told the inquest in Chester-le-Street that the combined effect of the drugs had been deadly.

He said: “Miss Swan has taken a cocktail of drugs and alcohol of a quality such that with each of them she could easily have survived but combined together it was lethal. It certainly would have killed me.

“People do take a cocktail of this level just to get high.

“Sometimes they take some more as they start to come down and begin to feel bad.”