A GIRL, aged 19, died after vomiting caused her stomach to tear, an inquest heard.

Victoria Ashworth, who had a history of mental health problems and drug abuse, became unwell in early December 2009.

She took a cocktail of drugs and medication which, Bolton Coroners’ Court heard, exacerbated her condition and was found dead in her bed on Sunday, December 6.

Miss Ashworth had only been released from prison, after serving nine months of an 18-month sentence for affray, months before, the inquest heard.

She was convicted after holding a buzzing chainsaw just inches from a man’s head, threatening to “cut up” Mustapher Khan, his nine-year-old son and another man, Faisal Farooki.

Miss Ashworth had suffered from mental health problems since the age of 14, including depression and paranoid schizophrenia, with stays on mental health wards, self-harming and an attempt to take her own life, the hearing was told. She was on medication and had a history of using heroin and crack cocaine but was on methadone, a heroin substitute — although she was still taking the drug regularly.

The inquest heard the cause of her being sick was unknown, but could have been a virus or something she had eaten.

The vomiting started on the afternoon of Friday, December 4, before Miss Ashworth, and her boyfriend, John Devaney, went to stay the night with a friend in Westhoughton.

It continued that evening and the next morning the couple returned to her mother, Carole Ashworth’s, address, where they were living, in Eldon Street, Tonge Moor, and went straight to bed.

The next morning Miss Ashworth was found dead.

Toxicology reports showed she had taken cannabis, a sleeping tablet, an anti-psychotic drug, a high dose of an anti-depressant and more than three times her dose of methadone.

Dr Angelina Ong, consultant histopathologist at the Royal Bolton Hospital, said: “I think this would have masked her symptoms, taking the pain away and under the influence of drugs she wouldn’t be capable of making a judgement or decision on her condition.”

The inquest also heard the cocktail of medication and drugs could have worsened her condition, for example, affecting her breathing.

Deputy coroner Alan Walsh recorded a narrative verdict that her death was caused by a perforated stomach, due to vomiting and contributed to by the drugs and medication she had taken.

He said: “It’s a great tragedy that a young lady of 19 should die in these circumstances.”