Blogger swallowed poison and told mental health staff 'I'll be dead in an hour'
Staff at a mental health unit tried to restrain a blogger before she swallowed a fatal substance she ordered online, an inquest has heard.
The hearing at South Manchester Coroner's Court in Stockport was told Beth Matthews, 26, told staff: "I will be dead in an hour."
Ms Matthews, who was a patient at The Priory's Cheadle Royal secure psychiatric hospital in Greater Manchester, died after swallowing the poisonous substance on March 21 last year.
An inquest into her death heard that after opening the package, which she claimed was protein powder, Ms Matthews poured the substance into a cup and two members of staff tried to restrain her to prevent her from drinking it.
However, as one pressed their alarm to call for help the blogger "came out of the restraint" and put the container in her mouth, before running to her bathroom and drinking from a tap in order to swallow the substance, the Manchester Evening News reports.
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The Priory's Cheadle Royal hospital where Beth was a patient at the time of her death (MEN Media)The two members of staff who were with the woman when she opened the package gave evidence at the two-week inquest, being heard before a jury, yesterday.
The court heard a handover document completed by staff who had worked the night before the day Ms Matthews died said: "Staff must open parcels for EM. Risk of secreting items from parcels."
However, Healthcare Assistant Olivia Woodruff said she had not seen the handover document and nobody mentioned to her that the patient should not be allowed to open her own mail.
She said: "I had never opened parcels with Beth so I didn't know the correct procedure for her. She said she asked ward manager Jonathan Heathcote who told her it was okay for Beth to open parcels as long as we were at arm's length, which we were."
The jury was told Ms Matthews, who at that time was on one-to-one observations, went to the nurses' office on the ward to ask for her mail and at around 1.10pm was accompanied to the "Quiet Lounge" – where she sat on a sofa with Ms Woodruff and her colleague, fellow Healthcare Assistant Megan Tiplady, sitting on chairs either side of her.
Beth had eight parcels to open and Ms Woodruff said as she sat opening them her "leg was bouncing" and that it appeared "to be an anxious thing".
Beth Matthews (left) with sister Lucy (right) (Cornwall Live WS)She opened three, containing a hoodie, e-cigarette coils (both of which were confiscated) and a card containing a homemade badge before opening the package containing the poisonous substance they said.
The staff said they asked what was inside it and she said it was "protein powder as she wanted to try it", the inquest was told.
Jurors, legal representatives, and Beth's father Christopher Matthews who was in court were shown the plastic, screw-top container through a sealed see-through bag.
The Healthcare Assistants said they couldn't see the label on it as it facing into Beth's hand and she didn't respond to further questions about what it was as she unscrewed the lid, pierced the film, and "started pouring the contents into a cup".
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At this point, the staff members stood up and began to restrain her to prevent her from drinking it. After they grabbed hold of her, Megan Tiplady said that Beth was "adamant she wasn't letting go".
"We tackled her with the cup all the way to the door of the quiet lounge," she said. "I didn't want to let go and neither did Olivia. But we needed to press the alarm as we were struggling to stop her from drinking what was in the cup and we needed more assistance.
"Beth was too strong. There was still the tub in the room. Olivia said to me 'are you going to press your alarm?' We were scared to let go."
She said as she pressed her alarm Beth "managed to come out of the restraint, grabbed the tub and put it in her mouth."
Two staff members gave evidence during the inquest at Stockport Coroner's Court (MEN Media)Ms Tiplady said Beth then "rushed out of the room" and that she tried to grab her but at this point, there were no other staff around to restrain her so she let go and followed her.
She said when she got to Beth's room she was "using water from the tap to swallow what was in her mouth."
As she left her room, Ms Tiplady said: "I tried to speak to her but she didn't want to respond. She looked angry. She walked back into her room and firmly stated 'I will be dead in an hour.'"
Ms Woodruff said she took the bottle to the nurses' office. "We had to Google it as no one was sure what the substance was," she said. Adding: "I had never heard of it."
Once the nature of the substance became clear the ward manager rang an ambulance, the hearing was told.
Beth was put onto two-to-one observations but quickly became seriously unwell and said she was struggling to breathe.
After the arrival of paramedics, she was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital but resuscitation attempts were not successful and her death was declared at 3.55pm.
The inquest was told staff who were on duty that day offered counseling following the incident and The Priory carried out a Serious Untoward Incident Investigation.
Beth, from the village of Menheniot near Liskeard in Cornwall, who had a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), acquired a large social media following after blogging about her experience following a "failed suicide attempt" in 2019.
She had been sectioned under the mental health act and transferred to the Fern Unit at The Priory for "specialist therapy" the previous November.
Earlier on Friday, a mental health nurse on the unit who Beth told just weeks before her death that "there are things you can purchase to do the job" told the inquest she was unsure at the time "whether she had or she was just thinking it".
Leanne Williamson said: "She was always thinking of ending her life. A lot of our conversations were about death or dying. So I didn't feel overly shocked. I felt she would be safe, because of the plans that were in place."
The hearing is set to conclude next week.
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