- Nikola Bradford had cocaine, amphetamines and ecstasy in her system
- Her Nurofen problems began after a break up in 2005 and a fall in 2010
- And her unsociable work hours left her feeling isolated and ‘very lonely’
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A civilian police worker died from a fatal cocktail of illicit drugs after she became addicted to the over-the-counter painkiller Nurofen.
Nikola Bradford, 36, became so hooked on taking the tablets for her bad back that she begged her local chemists not to sell them to her, an inquest heard.
But the communications officer for Greater Manchester Police travelled outside her hometown of Leigh, near Bolton, to feed her addiction and eventually she was admitted to hospital after turning up for work having taken 32 Nurofen Plus tablets.
Nikola Bradford, seen here on the left enjoying a night out with friends, started taking Nurofen for back pain after falling down some stairs but soon became addicted to it
Miss Bradford recovered but just days later inexplicably took an overdose of cocaine, amphetamines and ecstasy.
At an inquest a coroner said the case brought him ‘great sadness’ as Miss Bradford had developed a drug problem due to her need for pain relief – but it was not known why she suddenly switched to illicit drugs.
The hearinq at Bolton was told Miss Bradford, who started taking tablets for migraines in her teens, lost her father in a road traffic accident in Blackpool in 2001 and had taken it badly.
Her troubles with Nurofen Plus began after the breakdown of a relationship in 2005 and a fall down the stairs in 2010 which required her to have surgery to repair fractured vertebrae.
Miss Bradford had also spoken of her stress, anxiety and depression and was ‘lonely’ after working unsociable hours and had drifted apart from friends who had settled down, the hearing heard.
Further to this, after contracting meningitis, she was diagnosed with a fractured skull which was believed to have been caused by her fall.
Toxicology tests showed Miss Bradford had large amounts of cocaine in her system and had also taken amphetamines and ecstasy
Miss Bradford told friends she took Nurofen for pain relief but soon realised she had a problem and told her local chemists not to sell it to her.
But after relapsing she travelled to other chemists to obtain them.
In 2010 Miss Bradford was seen by a mental health crisis team and was prescribed methadone to try and wean her off the ibuprofen based tablets.
Her mother Dianne Westwell, who knew of her daughter’s addiction, told the inquest that on 21 November 2013, she was called by one of her daughter’s work colleagues to say she was ‘unsteady on her feet and didn’t appear herself’.
Miss Westwell said: ‘She wasn’t well it was obvious. She looked like she was drunk, she was slurring her words, she wasn’t drunk. She said she hadn’t taken any tablets but from her demeanor it was obvious.’
She added that she found an empty Nurofen Plus 32 pill packet in her daughter’s bag and assumed that her daughter had taken them all. She told the inquest that she took her daughter to a GP who then referred her to the hospital.
Miss Bradford told hospital staff that she hadn’t meant to harm herself but that the tablets helped to ease her pain. She was diagnosed with a kidney problem and told to stop taking ibuprofen before being discharged the following day.
Mrs Westwell said she had last seen her daughter on November 27, 2013, three days before her death on 1 December, and she had appeared ‘happy’.
She said she was unaware of her daughter using any other drugs, apart from in her teens.
Mrs Westwell said her daughter had lost friends due to her unsociable working hours and that many of them were married with children which left her feeling ‘very lonely’.
On the day of her death Mrs Westwell asked her daughter over for Sunday lunch. After she failed to respond she went to her daughter’s house where she found her body inside.
Miss Bradford was so addicted to Nurofen that she asked her local chemists to stop selling them to her
Miss Bradford’s sister Erika told the inquest that before Miss Bradford’s death the pair had an argument over text message during which she told her to ‘sort herself out’.
Mental health nurse Karen Lee said Miss Bradford had told her that previous treatment to curb her Nurofen addiction hadn’t worked.
She said: ‘She stated she had the trauma of losing her father, she suffered from back pain problems and was dealing with stress. She said she had stresses at work. She did continue to work. In her opinion they helped the anxiety. She categorically denied that she was taking illicit drugs.’
GP Dr John Coleman said that Miss Bradford had been prescribed pain relief for her back pain and anti-depressants but that she had not disclosed to him that she had taken illicit drugs.
He said: ‘To me she said it was for pain, I think an aspect was to calm her down. She said she had been struggling with her mood, she had low days.’
Pathologist Dr Steven Wells said Miss Bradford had suffered kidney disease as a result of Ibuprofen abuse.
But he said toxicology tests showed that she had not taken Nurofen on the day of her death but that there was fatal levels of cocaine at 11.3mg per litre. She had also taken amphetamines and ecstasy.
Coroner Mr Alan Walsh recorded that her death was as a result of drug misuse but said mystery surrounded her access and misuse of the illicit drugs.
Mr Walsh said Miss Bradford ‘clearly had problems arising from events in the past’, such as the death of her father, which was compounded by migraines and injures which caused ‘pain frequently and regularly’.
He said: ‘I accept there is no evidence that she took overdoses of Nurofen to end her life. The fact that is extremely difficult to assess is her use of illicit drugs.
‘It’s a mystery to me as to how she obtained the drugs or when she used the drugs. Her family were not aware.
‘Nobody could have seen her death arising. I will accept that she was not a regular user of those drugs, I will accept she was a relatively inexperienced user.
‘It may well have been she had not realised how this quantity of drugs may have affected her. It’s sad that she felt the need to take these illicit drugs.’
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.
Kirsty1990,
Belfast, United Kingdom,
1 hour ago
Prescribed suicide, it’s so sad my dad has been a drug addict for years and finds it difficult to come of them. The doctors just give another substitute to get hooked on instead. Drug addicts require medical attention more than what they are offered. They need to be looked after and watched. They sometimes get to a stage were they don’t know when to stop as there mind believes they are not getting the same affect. It can really destroy lives. No medicine that is highly addictive should be so easily purchased over a counter.
Bullfrog,
Wigan, United Kingdom,
1 hour ago
“……died from a cocktail of illicit drugs . †—– key word ‘ ILLICIT ‘ —-So why does Nurofen play such a prominent part ? Okay so , she abused nurofen BUT they didn’t killl her !
Fiona,
Surrey, United Kingdom,
1 hour ago
I have been on nurofen for over 20 years due to chronic pain and i can stop them when ever i want if im willing to stay in bed or if the nhs actually treat the cause of my pain, when they do… no withdrawal, no “rebound headachesâ€, no begging to have them, they sit in my bag for a week until the pressure in my head rises back up and they are needed again. I have to take 8 x 200mg tablets at a time to get rid of the pain and sometimes twice a day if its bad… if its really bad, none of it works. I have to take them on an empty stomach regularly and have no stomach issues what so ever, it depends on the person and each situation how these medications affect people, but if she died from a Cocaine overdose, this has little to do with the nurofen. Caffeine is more often deadly. DM stop sensationalizing everything and turning stories to tripe. If you had my story according to you i would also be “drinking my own brain fluidâ€
thewatchman,
liverpool, United Kingdom,
1 hour ago
First, its NUROFEN not NEUROFEN. Second, NUROFEN PLUS is totally different as it contains an opiate codeine- that is whats addictive. Having said that, prescribing methadone for that is total madness. Also, her death was likely due to the cocaine and amphetamine mixture.
Sesmarias,
Uk,
1 hour ago
None of these pain killers will kill you , only if you abuse them which clearly she did. On top of cocaine and other drugs they will kill you as well. Ibuprofen offers great pain relief with just a couple of tablets as per instructions .
amused,
Camberley, United Kingdom,
2 hours ago
Ordinary Nurofen (ibuprofen) is not addictive; it’s the Nurofen Plus that is addictive, as it contains codeine. Codeine is an opiate (in other words it works on the brain in the same sort of way as morphine), and is definitely very addictive.
Human bean,
London,
2 hours ago
I agree that warnings should be given about the fact that codeine is addictive. However, some people commenting here are getting a bit carried away. Many people take codeine – it helps GREATLY with their ailments and they manage not to get addicted to it. It is a real shame that some people DO get addicted to it, but if we start banning codeine then we need to ban alcohol too – this ubiquitous stuff is available to buy in as large a quantity as you like….. and many people get addicted to it (and suffer health problems/die as a direct result of it). I personally don’t drink alcohol – it’s poisonous stuff – but I do need codeine every now and then for extreme period pain. For those you that drink (and perhaps drink more than the recommended weekly units): how would you feel if you could only get alcohol on prescription? If, every time you needed it “to relax†(let’s face it, alcohol is basically a recreational drug), you had to make an appointment to see your GP?
Lynsey35,
Edinburgh,
2 hours ago
It is the codeine that is addictive in these tablets.
yabugg,
London,
2 hours ago
For the record (and this is definitive so before you start mindlessly red arrowing please check the facts) Nurofen is not addictive and contains nothing that could be of recreational interest to a user. Its active ingredient is a drug called Ibuprofen formulated from isobutylphenylpropanoic acid. Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) which reduces inflammation and pain but does so without any psychoactive effect. This was not the product this woman was taking. She was using a variant of Nurofen called Nurofen Plus which contains a small amount of the opiate Codeine. Codeine is addictive and when taken in quantity has an effect similar to a mild dose of heroin or morphine. The Daily Mail have added to the confusion by using a pack shot of ordinary Nurofen and not Nurofen Plus. Please read the above carefully and stop posting misleading nonsense.
My point not yours,
wales, United Kingdom,
2 hours ago
This reporting is a bit confusing. It was illicit substances which killed her.
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