Family call for changes after loss of city mum

THE family of a Plymouth mother-of-three who died after a bag of cocaine she had secreted within herself opened have said they hoped there would be changes in the way information is shared between police, the ambulance service and medical staff, following the conclusion of her inquest.

- CARL EVE

Anastasia Theofilou – known to her family as Annie – died at the age of 36 at Derriford Hospital on July 4, 2020, as a result of the toxic effects of a sudden and large dose of cocaine.

She had been arrested by police the previous day on suspicion of blackmail and was taken to Charles Cross police station, where she was placed in a cell after being strip searched. She later began to suffer seizures, leading to cardiac arrest and, despite treatment at the police station, in an ambulance and at Derri ford Hospital, she passed away.

During the inquest, held at Plymouth Coroner’s court by retired senior coroner Ian Arrow, the jury heard evidence from a number of witnesses, including detention officers from Charles Cross police station, paramedics from the South Western Ambulance Service and medical staff from Derriford Hospital’s Emergency Department.

The jury heard how she was checked on by police officers every half-hour, as well as monitored on CCTV. CCTV footage shown to the jury showed how she repeatedly kept going back and forth between the custody suite’s bed area and the toilet, placing a blanket over her legs and her lap and making occasional hand movements underneath the blanket.