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Rachel jury deliver open verdict Whitear inquest raises questions
(39 minutes later)
The jury at the inquest of 21-year-old heroin user Rachel Whitear has returned an open verdict on whether other people were with her when she died. Heroin-user Rachel Whitear could have been with someone else when she died, a jury at a second inquest into her death has concluded.
Coroner Ian Arrow had summed up the evidence for 35 minutes before the jury of 10 retired to discuss the case. Jurors said she did die from a heroin overdose, but said they could not know whether she injected herself.
Miss Whitear, of Herefordshire, died of a suspected drugs overdose at her flat in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000. Miss Whitear, 21, was found dead at her flat in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000.
The inquest had been adjourned on Thursday after a witness came forward, but no fresh evidence was uncovered. The inquest was adjourned on Thursday after a new witness came forward, but no fresh evidence emerged and the jury was sent out to consider its verdict.
In the first inquest, held in 2000, the coroner recorded an open verdict.
The 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.