A mother of four expressed her love to her husband before going to sleep, tragically never to awaken. Deanne Clarke, 41, was hailed by her family as “an amazing mum” who “adored her kids.”
Her spouse Allan reflected: “She was very strong – stronger than she thought. In her work life, she came out of school with nothing and worked really hard to get diplomas. She had a lot of strength and willpower. She was a really clever woman. She just didn’t think she was.”
Mrs Clarke, a social care manager and mother of four, was discovered unresponsive in bed at her Wallasey residence on January 7 this year. An inquest into her death conducted at Gerard Majella Courthouse in Kirkdale on Tuesday, April 15, concluded that she had succumbed to an accidental overdose of painkillers after weeks of “unbearable” pain and insomnia induced by fibromyalgia, a chronic condition causing pain, fatigue, and sleep issues.
Her husband Allan Clarke believed his wife had slipped into “a deep sleep” shortly before her demise. He recalled: “I said ‘I love you’, (she said) ‘I love you too’, and then she laid down.
“Within minutes she had gone into a really deep sleep. It sounded like she was snoring slightly and I thought if I moved her pillow it would clear her airway. I moved her pillow and her head felt quite heavy. She went quiet. Her breathing seemed quite clear. That night she was lying quite comfortably and peacefully.”, reports the Liverpool Echo.
On January 7, Mr Clarke rose at 6:30am and escorted one of his children to school. Upon returning home, he discovered his wife still in bed and unresponsive around 8:55am. He recounted: “I thought she was in a deep sleep and had been all night, and I just left her. It was January and it was dark. It wasn’t until the schools were closed and I came to tell her, I looked at her and I knew.” The post-mortem examination revealed lethal levels of prescribed painkillers in her system. However, it was impossible to determine when or how she had ingested the pills, as Mr Clarke stated she was typically “very meticulous” about her dosages.
Coroner Joe Hart stated: “Deanne had presented to her GP on January 6 with a chest infection, significant sleep problems and significant ongoing difficulties with pain. I find that pain was and must have been unbearable – even putting a T-shirt on would cause this lady very significant pain. I find that she was very careful lady where it came to her medication.
“This is a lady who was very much integrated with her family, very much making plans for the future. But I also find that at some stage over the course of January 6 into January 7, Deanne consumed a greater than therapeutic amount of a painkilling drug which had been prescribed to her. However I have heard absolutely no evidence as to how it come to be that Deanne took more painkillers than she was supposed to… and there was absolutely no evidence that this was deliberately taken at all.”
He remarked: “This seems to have been simply an accident. However careful Deanne had been in the past, it’s impossible to know what the impact of days, weeks and months of poor sleep, pain and poor vision can do.” In his brief narrative verdict, he determined that the mother had passed away due to an excessive dose of painkillers, which was further complicated by pneumonia.
