Police missed threat messages before woman's death

West Mercia Police missed threatening voice notes sent to a woman before she died of a heroin overdose, a coroner has heard.

The body of 21-year-old Natasha Jade Ashby, known as Tasha, was found in August 2023 in a tent at Hereford county bus station.

At a pre-inquest hearing on Tuesday, the family's solicitor, Ciara Bartlam, said the messages and voice notes contained threats to Ashby, and told her she should kill herself by taking an overdose.

Senior coroner James Bennett said West Mercia Police had requested all the data to be downloaded from Ashby's phone, but officers admitted that they had not been aware of the voice notes.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Bartlam said Ashby had two phones in her possession before she died.

"One phone has never been recovered, and the family believe it was taken by acquaintances of Tasha's," she told the inquest.

"The police seized her other phone, and requested a full download of messages, but the voice notes were missed.

"These were found by her family, who believe this reveals another deficiency, as they see it, by West Mercia Police."

The hearing was told the messages had been sent by a man the coroner referred to as Male A, who is not currently being named.

"He threatens Tasha, tells her to pay the money he says she owes him, and then he tells her that she might as well go and kill herself by taking an overdose," Bartlam told the inquest.

A post-mortem examination has revealed the cause of Ashby's death to be heroin toxicity.

Her family said in a previous hearing that toxicology reports showed she was not a regular user of the drug.

Ashby had been in care since the age of nine, living with foster parents and then in supported housing.

She was legally an adult at the time of her death, but her parents and social workers described her as vulnerable, with the mental capacity of an eight-year-old child.

Her parents told the BBC they were concerned that the police investigation into their daughter's death "wasn't as good as it should have been."

"We're hoping the inquest can help us find answers to our questions," they said.

During a previous hearing in June, the court heard Ashby's former care worker Anne-Marie Harris had been worried about her safety.

"I am seriously concerned that, without adult social care support, there will shortly be a loss of life by her own hands or others," she wrote in a safeguarding referral to Herefordshire Council.

During Tuesday's proceedings, the coroner explained that officers from West Mercia Police would be trying to speak to people Ashby had been in contact with in the days before her death.

Her parents believe it is vital that the inquest hears evidence from the last people to see her alive.

Bennett said he would not be suggesting to the police that the potential witnesses should be arrested and taken to a police station.

He told the inquest that officers would use a pre-written series of questions and their body cameras to try and capture evidence.

Bartlam said the family were concerned as many of the potential witnesses had been convicted of serious offences in the past, including grievous bodily harm.

Herefordshire Council, West Mercia Police and Herefordshire Safeguarding Adults Board were all represented at the pre-inquest hearing.

The coroner is due to hold a further pre-inquest review into Ashby's death in February.

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