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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Rachel jury considering verdict | Rachel jury considering verdict |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| The jury at the inquest of 21-year-old Rachel Whitear has been sent out to consider its verdict. | The jury at the inquest of 21-year-old Rachel Whitear has been sent out to consider its verdict. |
| Coroner Ian Arrow had summed up the evidence for 35 minutes before the jury of 10 retired to discuss the case. | Coroner Ian Arrow had summed up the evidence for 35 minutes before the jury of 10 retired to discuss the case. |
| Miss Whitear, of Herefordshire, died of a suspected drugs overdose at her flat in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000. | Miss Whitear, of Herefordshire, died of a suspected drugs overdose at her flat in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000. |
| The inquest was adjourned on Thursday after a new witness came forward - but no fresh evidence was put before the hearing in Exeter on Friday. | |
| Mr Arrow adjourned the inquest to enable Wiltshire Police, who reinvestigated the death, to evaluate new information which had been passed to them. | |
| Second inquest | |
| But at the start of Friday's hearing, Mr Arrow told the jury the investigations by the force into two separate lines of inquiry had uncovered nothing to assist the jury. | |
| Photographs of Miss Whitear's body were used in national campaigns to highlight the dangers of drug abuse. | Photographs of Miss Whitear's body were used in national campaigns to highlight the dangers of drug abuse. |
| This is the second inquest to be held into her death. In the first, held in 2000, the coroner recorded an open verdict. | |
| However a new inquest, with a different coroner, was ordered last year. | |
| At a hearing in the High Court, Lord Justice Maurice Kay said the original coroner should not have released the body for burial before a post-mortem examination was carried out. | |