A TWENTY-four-year-old mum who led a ‘troubled life’ died of a drug overdose after having her children taken away from her. 

Heidi Flavell, who lived on Coronation Road in Middlewich, struggled with depression and alcoholism and had become heartbroken when she lost custody of her two children, Crewe Coroner’s Court heard on Monday.

Heidi, who also suffered from partial sightedness and a condition with her shoulder which caused it to dislocate regularly, initially had her children taken away from her in 2013 due to her alcohol addiction.

However, the single mother-of-two was hit hard by not seeing her children and soon became sober with the help of rehab at Leighton Hospital. 

After spending nine months sober, Heidi had regained partial custody of her children but relapsed and had them taken away again just days before her death in August.

Heidi’s dad, Steve Flavell, paid tribute to his daughter, describing her as his greatest accomplishment.

Steve said: “My greatest accomplishment in life is without a doubt my beautiful daughter. She was 24 years old and was the light of my life since the moment she was born. May you rest in peace, God bless.”

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg concluded that the cause of death was ‘codeine and paracetamol toxicity.’ 

The coroner heard that Heidi had a history of self-harm but decided that there was not enough evidence to suggest the overdose was suicide. 

Mr Rheinberg said: “She had a very painful condition with her shoulder which made it dislocate easily. It’s possible that without the aid of alcohol she just went on taking pills to relieve the pain.

“There are two possibilities when someone dies of an overdose. Either they overdosed on purpose to end their own life, or they accidentally overdosed. This may well have been an accident but it is impossible to decide and because of this I will leave an open verdict.”