A WOMAN who was found dead in a field had taken a fatal combination of drugs, an inquest found.

Sian Mai Willbourn, 38, of Little Broughton, was discovered by a dog-walker in a field beside Papcastle Road in Cockermouth on January 23.

An inquest held at Cockermouth Coroners’ Court heard Ms Willbourn had been hospitalised following an overdose in 2023. She was engaging with mental health services and taking an antidepressant.

Ms Wilbourn had started a new relationship with a man who had moved in with her. She was ‘self-medicating’ with drink and drugs and found Christmas difficult.

Her sister, Helena, said Ms Willbourn could be ‘a bit wild’ as a teenager. She had attended Cockermouth School and then West Cumbria Learning Centre.

In her early 20s she attended Carlisle College and got all the qualifications she would have achieved at 18 if she had stayed at school.

She got married in 2009 and went on to have three children. She worked as a retained firefighter for a couple of years. She studied for a degree in fire engineering through UCLan and had various jobs working in pubs.

Ms Wilbourn got a job as a fire engineering consultant, which she ‘really loved’. She was ‘heartbroken’ by the death of her brother but didn’t take up any bereavement support.

Miss Willbourn’s sister-in-law, Kirsty Grant, said she came to her house on the morning of January 22 and was ‘upset’ that she couldn’t see her children. She had been self-harming.

She went back home and then returned to Ms Grant’s property with her partner. She became upset with her partner because he had answered her phone while she had been upstairs.

Ms Milbourn left the property at about 3.45pm. Ms Grant said she had no major concerns for her.

A dog-walker discovered Ms Wilbourn in a field on the afternoon of January 23. It was clear she had been dead for some time.

Detective inspector Calvin Greaves of Cumbria Police said there was no information to suggest it had been an act of suicide.

DI Greaves believed that she had attempted to walk home from Cockermouth across the fields, while under the influence of alcohol. While trying to navigate saturated fields, Ms Willbourn had fallen down a bank and had then died, he said.  

The inquest heard Ms Willbourn had been referred for home-based treatment within the mental health crisis service following the overdose in 2023.

She had been assessed as a low-risk for self-harm in November 2023. She was later discharged from the crisis team and didn’t contact the service again.

A post-mortem report revealed some significant blockage of the right coronary artery. A toxicology report showed potentially fatal levels of morphine within her blood. Other substances were detected in her system.

The medical cause of death was given as drug intoxication. Coronary artery atherosclerosis may have contributed to her death.

Dr Nicholas Shaw, assistant coroner for Cumbria, ruled that her death was due to a fatal combination of several drugs. There was no evidence of suicidal intent or any third party involvement.

The coroner concluded that Miss Willbourn’s death was drug-related.