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Beverley Storr was found dead at home by her boyfriend in 2003 |
Smuggler ‘took her own life’
Coroner says international drug dealer not murdered
AN international drug smuggler found dead at her Newington Green home was not murdered, a coroner ruled on Tuesday.
Detectives initially suspected that Beverley Storr, 47, of Newington Green Road, may have been killed in 2003 in an underworld revenge killing.
It followed her arrest in Denmark over the brutal murder of a drug dealer who it was alleged Ms Storr had shot in the head at point-blank range.
At an inquest on Tuesday at St Pancras Coroner’s Court, coroner Dr Andrew Reid ruled she had taken her own life.
He said: “I am satisfied that Beverley Storr consumed alcohol and Dothiapin in circumstances where she was possibly going to be found by her friend or partner when he returned.
“Unfortunately, he returned late in the day and it’s not clear when she took the pills.
“It’s not clear whether it was a cry for help or done with the intention of ending her own life.
“There were no suspicious circumstances although she had been involved in an incident in Denmark. There’s no reason to link the two events.”
Her boyfriend, who was identified only as Mr Hunt at the inquest, came home to find her lying dead on her bed in a white towelling robe on Sunday, November 2.
In a statement read out in court, he said: “I unlocked the door and called out to Bev. I thought it was strange because the lights were off and she always leaves them on.
“I saw her lying face down on the floor and I noticed a bucket next to her head with sick in it. I tapped her on the shoulder and tried to find a pulse. Her legs were swollen and there was no colour. I called for an ambulance. I went to the sitting room and then I noticed the pills on the table.”
At one point in 2001, Ms Storr was on Interpol’s most wanted list, along with then-lover Reginald Blythin.
For years she was a high-stakes player on the international drug-smuggling circuit, moving millions of pounds worth of cannabis around Europe.
Ms Storr was jailed for four years in 1997 after being caught in Malaga with 1.5 million tons of cannabis with a street value of £3million.
She made national headlines in Denmark and the UK in 2002 after she was arrested for the gangland-style execution of Colombian drug dealer Arturo Miranda in the sleepy fishing village of Hou.
Newspapers tagged her and Blythin, her alleged accomplice, Bonnie and Clyde.
She was arrested by Danish police, but had to be released in accordance with Danish law.
In 2003, she came back to the UK and moved in with Mr Hunt.
That November, Ms Storr, who had been receiving treatment for depression, was found dead by her partner.
An inquest was opened at the time of her death but adjourned while detectives examined whether she had been coerced into an overdose.
Dr Reid returned an open verdict because he could not decide if her overdose was a cry for help or intentional.
She died after ingesting a concoction of pills prescribed for depression and at least one bottle of vodka. No suicide note was found.
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