Blogger 'restrained' before swallowing poisonous substance, jury told

Beth Matthews was a well-known mental health blogger

A care worker has described restraining a mental health blogger moments before she swallowed a poisonous substance posted to her secure psychiatric unit.

Inquest jurors also heard Beth Matthews had ordered the substance and had it delivered to her mental health ward at Priory Hospital Cheadle Royal near Stockport in March before ingesting it.

The 26-year-old from Cornwall was well-known for writing about mental health.

She was being seen as an NHS patient at the hospital run by Priory Group.

Her inquest in Stockport heard from health care assistant Olivia Woodruff.

Ms Woodruff said Ms Matthews had received eight parcels on the day of her death, 21 March 2022.

She said she had not been "100% sure" whether Ms Matthews was allowed to open her own parcels, so asked a manager for advice.

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Ms Matthews seemed agitated and "her left leg was shaking", said Ms Woodruff.

The jury was told the blogger was supervised by two staff members sitting within arms' reach.

Ms Matthews is then said to have opened a packet, containing a small plastic bottle.

She claimed it contained "protein powder".

Ms Woodruff described how Ms Matthews then put the powder into a cup of water and tried to drink it.

She was restrained by the staff members and the cup fell to the ground.

Ms Woodruff said that as one of the carers tried to activate her personal alarm: "Beth managed to get the powder into her mouth dry... and after that it was on her top and mouth."

She then ran to her room with her hand over her mouth and drank water from a tap.

Ms Matthews is then said to have told another member of staff: "I will be dead in an hour."

• If you are affected by any of the issues in this article you can find details of organisations that can help via the BBC Action Line.

Jurors were then able to examine the small, plastic container, which was white with a screw top.

The court was told that less than three weeks before her death Ms Matthews had been discussing euthanasia with a nurse, Leanne Williamson.

Ms Williamson said Ms Matthews thought it was "unfair that we were making her live when she didn't want to".

She had already told the nurse that there were things "you can purchase to do the job".

The nurse told the jury she thought Ms Matthews was "pretty determined" and might have already bought something, but didn't know what.

She said: "I still thought she was safe because of the plans in place".

Another witness who saw the parcel said it had "Russian writing all over it".

The inquest will continue on Monday

• If you are affected by any of the issues in this article you can find details of organisations that can help via the BBC Action Line.