Plymouth mum who crippled Royal Marine died from overdose

Plymouth mum who crippled Royal Marine died from overdose



A mother-of-six who wracked with guilt after she crippled a Royal Marine while driving drunk on the school run died from an overdose six months after the crash.

Emma May, 34, was found dead by her 16-year-old daughter at her Plymouth home last June after an overdose of painkiller tablets.

Her family said she was trying to 'self-destruct' in the two years leading up to her death and had racked up huge debts from cocaine use.

A coroner concluded that her death was drug-related.

Ms May's mother, Janice Howarth, 57, said her daughter was 'troubled' and 'hit hard' by the crash in 2016.

She escaped with a fine after hitting Royal Marine Tim Healy, 25, at 60mph in January last year.

The court was previously told she lost control while driving to collect her children from school after a boozy lunch. Mr Healy was left crippled after the crash.



Ms Howarth said her daughter was never the same after the crash.

She added: 'She was a brilliant mother. Her children came first and she was very popular and vivacious. She definitely felt guilty. I think it must've hit her how serious it was getting.

'At the time, she was on alcohol and I think she had issues and didn't know how to deal with them.'

At her inquest in Devon, coroner Andrew Cox said Ms May would have been in pain following the accident and had a genuine need for Tramadol.

He said: 'She had a road traffic collision and was suffering a lot as a consequence. It seems to me that Emma was an addict and as an addict she had to feed her habit.'



The previous court case heard that Ms May was almost twice over the limit when she raced her Vauxhall Zafira around a bend on the wrong side of the road - on two wheels - and smashed into Healy's car in January 2016.

Healy, a former Royal Marine recruit, had to be cut free from the wreckage of his Toyota and suffered multiple fractures to his forearm, foot and ankle.

Complications during surgery caused him trouble and left him unable to move properly.

Ms May walked free from court with just a 20 month driving ban and a £470 fine after she admitted drink driving - a verdict that the victim heavily criticised.

DC Mat Johnson made reference to her serious crash at the inquest.

He said that although her prescriptions for Tramadol were 'unremarkable' when they began in April 2013 they had become more frequent shortly before she died.



He added: 'I think it would be fair to say there was a change in nature of her requests and frequency.'

DC Johnson said he had heard from Ms May's husband that 'she had been on self-destruct for two years'.

The inquest heard that Ms May had stolen her husband's Tramadol, told doctors her teenage daughter needed drugs and even lied to her GP that her mother had died in order to get her hands on the medication.

Ms May also managed to con her GP into giving her more medication than she needed, the inquest was told.

She was found dead by her teenage daughter on June 29, 2016. A forensic pathologist ruled the cause of death to be Tramadol toxicity.

Her husband Paul May told the hearing: 'She started using cocaine about two years before her death. I didn't really catch her red-handed until much later. She was using it often and ran up massive debts.'

He added: 'Her health problems were due to her drug and alcohol abuse and prescription tablets.

'One particular time when I knew there was a problem, I had 100 tablets and took 10 with me to work. Come Friday, they were not there. I realised she took them.'

Ms May, who was unemployed, had racked up a £9,000 cocaine bill.



The inquest also heard Ms May would drink during the day and hide wine bottles.

Ms May's GP, Dr Tracey O'Leary, was quizzed at the inquest about why she was able to receive so much of the medication.

She told the inquest: 'In the 25 years of being a doctor, I have never had someone lie to me about a family member dying to obtain a prescription.

'There was nothing to make me think it was not a genuine request. The relationship I felt I had was based on lies.'

Coroner Andrew Cox said that although Ms May managed to con her GP into giving her more medication than she needed, more needed to be done to prevent patients being given medication so easily.

He said: 'There does appear to be an element of creative deceit. Emma appears to have been able to have put up a convincing front.'

'Emma genuinely did have back pain and she had an aggravation of those injuries in the car accident in 2016.'