A WOMAN found unconscious on a pavement in a blizzard had been left there by people she had been drinking and taking drugs with, an inquest heard.

Bridget Lowton, 41, was found by a passing motorist at 9.45pm on Friday, March 22, during heavy snow.

Passers-by, police and paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive her and she was later pronounced dead shortly after arriving at hospital.

A hearing at Preston Coroners’ Court heard Ms Lowton, formerly known as Bridget Mahon, of Buchanan Street, Chorley, had been with five other people at an address in Croft Road in the town.

Detective Constable Stephen Atherton told the court that a police investigation in the hours after Ms Lowton’s death had led to three men, aged 35, 33 and 27, and two women, both aged 29, to be arrested be arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

He said: “Ms Lowton and the others had been at the address during the afternoon and evening. Alcohol and drugs had been consumed. Witnesses told officers that they had seen Ms Lowton carried out of the house and left in the snow.

“The five were interviewed separately and they all said Ms Lowton had collapsed unconscious on the sofa in the house, that they had panicked and she had been carried outside.

“The occupants were loathe to draw police attention to the activities going on at the house.”

Consultant Home Office pathologist Richard Shepherd said toxicology reports and a post mortem examination established the cause of her death to be heart failure caused by the combined toxicity of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine.

He said there was no evidence of hypothermia or that being outside in the cold and snow had contributed to her death.

DC Atherton said he believed the actions and behaviour of those in the house in carrying her outside was ‘stupid and ridiculous’.

Coroner James Adeley responded, ‘that is putting it mildly’ and that their behaviour ‘beggared belief’.

However, police investigations had concluded that those actions had not contributed to her death in any way and no crime had been committed.

The five arrested were released without charge when they answered bail in May.

Mr Adeley recorded a verdict of misadventure.