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Teacher, 42, dies after swallowing bag of cocaine to smuggle back to Dubai from Manchester
Daily Star ^ | 6/4/2018 | Douglas Patient

Posted on 06/04/2019 9:53:32 AM PDT by Gamecock

A BRIT teacher accidentally killed herself with a lethal overdose after she swallowed a bag of cocaine in a first-class airport lounge while waiting to fly home to Dubai.

Victoria Buchanan, 42, ingested the resealable bag when she realised she still had the drug in her possession while drinking a glass of champagne after she checked in with her luggage.

The mum-of-three had earlier acquired £200 worth of the Class A drug during a family visit to the UK with her husband Mark who is a shipping company boss.

She had £60 worth of cocaine left when she decided to swallow it in the hope of getting it back home – and moments later she collapsed with a severe seizure when the bag burst in her stomach.

The bag of cocaine was discovered during a post-mortem exam.

Mrs Buchanan originally from Kilmarnock, Scotland, had moved to Dubai in 2010 and worked as a teacher in the United Arab Emirates while her husband was believed to be head of fleet personnel for a shipping firm.

She was known for helping impoverished children in Nepal through a charity set up to improve their education.

An inquest heard the tragedy occurred on March 29 last year after Mrs Buchanan had spent a week in Britain with her family as part of her annual visit to the UK.

Her husband told the Manchester hearing: "We were aware she would take small amounts of cocaine occasionally and it was something we did together, I had left the UK a few days before not a lot was left not that that matters now."

In a statement Dr Jon Hopper of Wythenshawe Hospital said Mrs Buchanan was brought by the ambulance at 2.34pm following a cardiac arrest at Manchester Airport.

He said: “Onlookers thought she was intoxicated but then she started having a fit and off duty nurse searched through her handbag and called her husband who told her an epipen was in her bag as she had had previous reactions to palm oil.

"She died at 6.24pm on March 30. During her post-mortem a plastic resealable bag was found in her stomach and it was ruled that further examination was required."

A toxicology report read to the inquest showed amounts of cocaine at less than 0.4 milligram per litre of blood which is "consistent with recreational use".

It added that the "obvious concusion" was that the bag, which was 10cm by 6cm, burst and cocaine leaked into her stomach.

Det Sgt Alex Wild said: "There was no third party involvement, that was the conclusion, there were no charges brought or further actions taken."

Mrs Buchanan's mother Irene Dignon, who in her 70s, said: "We couldn't understand why she would risk something for such a small amount – we couldn't understand that. There was no evidence of anything like drugs with her – she was always so anti them.

"She was always so upbeat I wouldn't have thought she needed them, it's a different world."

Mrs Buchanan's father James added: "We had no suspicion of any drug taking."

Recording a conclusion of death by misadventure assistant coroner Andrew Bridge said: "Analysis of the bag showed that its contents were cocaine.

"It appears that the cocaine that was in the bag which was left after recreational use with Mark earlier that week, on that basis the cause of death is brain damage caused by cardiac arrest which was caused by cocaine intoxication.

"The only known source of that cocaine was from that contents within the bag swallowed by Victoria with the intention of taking the remaining cocaine back to Dubai.

"Why she took such a risk will never be known but I'm satisfied it was done of her own volition and there was no coercion or threat, there was no criminal activity and no charges have been brought.

"I have no understanding of why Victoria would wish to have smuggled cocaine or why she would take the risks of doing so my conclusion of how she came by her death is one of misadventure.

"I give you my sympathies for the sad loss of your wife and your daughter – my question is what on earth was she thinking?"


TOPICS: Local News; Travel
KEYWORDS: addiction; badteacher; crazywomen; smuggling; uae
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To: Gamecock

I love a story with a triple happy ending. The drug smuggling ring lost a mule. The drug smuggling ring lost a shipment of cocaine. Her next year’s students lost an educate-whore.


61 posted on 06/04/2019 11:14:48 AM PDT by MIchaelTArchangel
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To: Gamecock

This is a Teacher?

no accident here …………….she’s just Dead.


62 posted on 06/04/2019 11:14:54 AM PDT by EnglishOnly (eWFight all out to win OR get out now. .)
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To: M Kehoe
"£60 of coke? Why didn’t she dump it down the lew?"

A couple of thoughts.

First, I think there are quite a few wealthy people who didn't get where they are by simply throwing away 60 bucks unnecessarily.

Second, it wouldn't surprise me if that cocaine was worth quite a bit more if successfully smuggled into Dubai. In Dubai the value is probably higher and the consequences of getting caught attempting to obtain cocaine might be significantly higher than the price alone. I recall that Singapore is very hard on drug dealers and their customers.

This woman may very well have decided that smuggling this cocaine was much less risky than obtaining it in Dubai. She was wrong.

63 posted on 06/04/2019 11:16:30 AM PDT by William Tell
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To: Drew68

“She died for £60 worth of cocaine
How do you die from $60 of cocaine? That’s a minuscule amount.”


How much did Lamar Odom consume? That dude failed to “Opus out”.


64 posted on 06/04/2019 11:32:24 AM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches anything.)
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To: SMARTY

“How could anyone that stupid be a ‘teacher’?p

Those that can do, those that can’t teach.


65 posted on 06/04/2019 11:40:54 AM PDT by semaj (We are the People)
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To: Gamecock

Hot...

But VERY stupid...

And this is what is teaching children...???


66 posted on 06/04/2019 11:53:11 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: SMARTY

You don’t want to know the teachers I know then. Friends and family, not the brightest bulbs and all vote D.


67 posted on 06/04/2019 12:10:30 PM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: Gamecock

Nope.

Not even slightly possible.

One does not die from 76$ worth of cocaine, unless there is an underlying problem already.


68 posted on 06/04/2019 12:12:54 PM PDT by Lazamataz (We can be called a racist and we'll just smile. Because we don't care.)
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To: SMARTY

“How could anyone that stupid be a ‘teacher’?“

You obviously haven’t been around many teachers, or considered how easily teachers believe leftist’s lies (and then push them into our kid’s heads).

Domestic Enemy #2: Pubic school teachers.


69 posted on 06/04/2019 12:31:17 PM PDT by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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To: Gamecock

I’m having a hard time mustering a lot of sympathy for some dopehead who accidentally killed herself.

It’s too bad Obama didn’t manage the same stunt during his cocaine sniffing days. It would have saved us eight years of hell.


70 posted on 06/04/2019 1:25:47 PM PDT by GaryCrow
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