A WOMAN who died of a drug overdose had been left alone when police took her partner to custody - which later saved his life.

Anne Marie Rooney died aged 33 of a drug-related death, after taking both prescribed and recreational drugs, an inquest has heard.

On August 9, Ms Rooney and her partner took drugs and both overdosed.

Her partner was taken into police custody in Abingdon, and while there he was sent to be treated for the overdose at the John Radcliffe hospital.

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But Ms Rooney, who had been left alone in the flat, was found by neighbours slumped in a communal alleyway and later died.

In a statement, neighbour Richard Gray said: "My partner and I went downstairs from our flat, we were taking the rubbish out and having a cigarette, when a man in broken English said, ‘is she okay someone here’.

"We thought the lady was drunk, but later when we decided to check on her, we found her cold to touch with blue lips."

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The neighbours called 999 and the ambulance crew gave her CPR.

When she arrived at the John Radcliffe hospital she was met by the resuscitation team; however they could not reverse the effects of the drugs.

A toxicology report later found she had methadone, amitriptyline, diazepam, pregabalin, cocaine and olanzapine in her blood.

Coroner Sonia Hayes recorded Ms Rooney's death as being drug-related.