HEROIN KILLED WITHIN MINUTES

Three heroin users found inside a public toilet died within 15 minutes of
injecting the drug, an inquest heard.

John Hardcastle, Jillian Good and Jamie Doughty were discovered lying dead
in the Piggy Lane toilets in Withernsea.

An inquest into their deaths heard how the friends had gone to the toilets
to take the drug at 10.15pm on December 19 last year.

They were found by cleaner Frank Buckley, 66, of Cherry Tree Avenue, the
following morning.

The inquest at Hull Coroners' Court heard how Mr Hardcastle, 29, had
previously 'overdosed' four times on the drug.

Hull coroner Geoffrey Saul was told how Mr Hardcastle, of Highfield, died
within 15 minutes of injecting heroin, along with Miss Good, 29, of
Kirkfield Road, and 25-year-old Mr Doughty from Oxfordshire.

Simon Johnson, a school friend of Mr Hardcastle, said in a statement read
out in court: "John was a happy, carefree person.

"I was aware since he was 16 or 18 he was involved in drugs but I thought
it was just cannabis.

"He also liked to drink and would probably drink 10 to 15 pints a night.

"He told me he had had a drugs overdose four times but he did not seem
bothered about it.

"Sometimes he would be drugged up in the street and several times he came
to my house and I had to throw him out."

The inquest was told the three friends met at a pub in Oxford, where Miss
Good rented a flat above a kebab house, before returning to Withernsea.

Mr Hardcastle, a shop fitter, had been drinking at the Spread Eagle pub in
Queen Street with Miss Good and Mr Doughty, who was visiting from his home
in Appleford near Abingdon.

They were later captured on CCTV entering the female night toilet at Piggy
Lane.

David Good, Miss Good's father, told the inquest his daughter had spent
time in Oxford to escape the drugs scene in Withernsea.

"I was certain she was not taking drugs anymore," he said.

Lynn Long, Mr Doughty's mother, cried when Mr Saul recorded three verdicts
of accidental death attributed to overdoses of heroin.

Outside court, Max Hough, from the East Riding Drug Action team, said:
"There is always the risk of overdosing from heroin when it is taken
intravenously."

East Riding Council closed the public night toilets in Withernsea last
April following the tragedy.