A female inmate of Mountjoy prison who died from a drug overdose had taken 23 morphine tablets smuggled illegally into the prison, the Dublin City Coroner's Court has heard.
Ms Cheryl Sharpe (35), originally from Northampton, England, but living in Dublin for some 13 years, was found dead in her cell in the women's prison in the early hours of August 1st, 2003.
A toxicology report found Ms Sharpe had used heroin shortly before her death. However, the court was told it was the high levels of morphine in her system which caused her death.
A former inmate, Ms Julieanne Fagan, stated that she had found an orange in the prison yard thrown over the wall by an unknown person. It contained heroin, tablets that were either Valium or Librium, and a large quantity of pink tablets, subsequently found to be a brand of morphine sulphate used in cancer treatment, known as Severdol.
Ms Fagan shared the pink tablets between Ms Sharpe and several other inmates.
Dr Farrell said there was no evidence Ms Sharpe was deliberately trying to harm herself, but he was concerned anyone would take 23 tablets of "whatever nature".
The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.