The daughter of a property tycoon died from a heroin overdose after struggling to cope with killing a teenage cyclist in a road accident.
Hannah James, 37, was found dead in the bath of her Paris apartment by her boyfriend.
The interior designer had mixed heroin with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic painkiller she had purchased on the dark web.
Hannah James, 37, was found dead in the bath of her Paris apartment by her boyfriend
Her family described how she spiralled into depression after the breakdown of her marriage two years earlier.
She had also been left traumatised by a road crash in 2010, which left 17-year-old student Joel Semmens dead.
Miss James was behind the wheel of her black convertible Audi TT returning from a client meeting in Byfleet, Surrey, when she hit Joel on his bike.
Police initially suspected she was drunk or under the influence of drugs, but blood tests proved this was not the case.
However, she admitted failing to stop at the scene of an accident and using a vehicle with an unsuitable tyre, and was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work.
Her father David, 74, the chairman of a luxury Home Counties property company, said his daughter enjoyed a substantial income from a family trust.
But he added that she had been a troubled teenager, who was expelled from school and began experimenting with drugs at an early age.
Speaking at Westminster Coroner’s Court, he said: ‘In late October 2010 Hannah had a driving accident … and hit and killed a cyclist aged 17.
‘He was crossing the main road without stopping, on an unlit bike wearing dark clothing and no safety gear.
‘She was traumatised by the accident. We noticed she was showing signs of depression and noticeably drinking more and, now we know, taking drugs.’
The hearing was told Miss James had been employed by the family firm to furnish the multi-million-pound properties it let and sold.
Miss James was behind the wheel of her black convertible Audi TT returning from a client meeting in Byfleet, Surrey, when she hit Joel Semmens (pictured) on his bike
She lived in a £1.2million home in Putney, south-west London, with her husband – but after their marriage ended in 2015 she moved to the French capital.
Mr James said: ‘She had been there for about nine months – to get away from all the friends she shared with her ex-husband and come to terms with the failed marriage.
‘She seemed cheerful and happy as she had a new boyfriend. She invited us to see the apartment and we did in March 2017.
‘We noticed she had lost weight and looked withdrawn. We went to a restaurant and she didn’t have an appetite.
‘We thought depression was affecting her as she declined to come to lunch the next day.’
He said that just a few weeks after returning home from the trip, he received a phone call from his daughter’s boyfriend to say that she had died.
Mr James added: ‘There were two envelopes locked in a drawer in Hannah’s former bedroom, that she gave to my wife [to open] if anything should happen to her.
‘They contained seven carbon copies of paramedic response reports from 999 calls by her husband [saying] that resuscitation had been carried out as a consequence of heroin overdose. This was the first knowledge we had.
‘When we cleared her apartment we found hypodermic syringes in the bedroom and bathroom.’
Miss James’s boyfriend, John Gladwell, found her body on March 31 last year after breaking into her home when she did not answer the door.
The inquest heard she ordered drugs on the dark web, a hidden part of the internet accessible only using specialist software, from a dealer known as the ‘Dream Factory’.
‘When I last saw her she was just how I remember her – her mood was bubbly, it always was,’ Mr Gladwell said. ‘I was aware of the drug use … she used coke, heroin.
‘From what she was telling me she was trying not to take drugs any more … I think it was an accident. There’s no doubt in my mind it was an accident.’
Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox recorded a verdict of accidental death due to misadventure.
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