Grieving Bexhill mother urges others to avoid drugs abroad

The grieving mother of a woman who died after unknowingly taking a fatal mixture of drugs in Thailand has warned people to beware of buying drugs abroad.

Rebecca Turner, 36, from Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, was found dead alongside her boyfriend, Sam Melnick, in their hotel room in Bangkok on 15 March 2024.

A toxicology report found evidence of heroin, codeine, diazepam and trazodone in her bloodstream, and assistant coroner Laura Bradford said Ms Turner died as a result of “drug toxicity”.

Speaking after an inquest in Lewes, her mother, Anita Turner, said: “If one person can see this when they go out there; please do not take anything, it’s not worth it.”

She added: “There are many deaths out there through the misuse of drugs, and with what’s in these drugs, it’s just not worth it because it’s the parents that sit there picking up the pieces.

“Every day it kills me, every day I cry. I can’t get over it and no mother would get over it.”

The mother added that her daughter had thought she was taking cocaine, but with “everything else mixed in it, it was deadly”.

The inquest heard the 36-year-old had occasionally taken cocaine and once sought treatment for problems with alcohol.

However, her family said she was in good spirits before she travelled to Asia to go to a wedding last year.

Assistant coroner Ms Bradford said: “I have no evidence to suggest she was intending to die on 15 March, and in addition, I have evidence from Rebecca’s family that her mental health was stable and her mood was in fact good.”

Her mother described her as “fun, bubbly, always partying, always laughing, always smiling”.

She said she had travelled to Thailand three times since her daughter’s death to continue the charity work Ms Turner started with a school in Bangkok.

“I raised a lot of money, done what my daughter would like to have done – go out there and help the school,” the mother added.