A WOMAN collapsed and died on a bathroom floor after injecting heroin, a coroner has heard.

At the opening of the inquest into the death of Dawn Hirst, acting senior coroner Alan Walsh was told how 35-year-old Miss Hurst had a history of drug use on and off stretching back 10 years.

Police coroner’s officer Peter Yates told how Miss Hirst, of Beatrice Mews, Horwich, had spent time watching television with her friend on August 12 last year and had then gone to the bathroom to take drugs.

“After about an hour Dawn hadn’t returned and so her friend, being concerned, went to the bathroom and found her collapsed on the bathroom floor, “ he said.

Paramedics were unable to revive Miss Hirst, who was also known as Dawn Bryce and in the early hours of August 13 she was pronounced dead.

A post mortem revealed she had died of heroin toxicity and a full inquest is due to be held on January 24.

Mr Walsh ordered that reports should be prepared by her doctors and mental health experts.