A CORONER has said he has ‘immense suspicions’ about the circumstances that led to a teenager’s death.

Elizabeth Freeston, 19, was found dead in bed by her boyfriend, Michael Grundy, at their home in Burnley in 2012.

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An inquest into her death was started earlier this year, but coroner Richard Taylor referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for further investigation after a witness described how Mr Grundy told her he had given Miss Freeston heroin and valium in the days leading up to her death.

Miss Freeston, of Francis Street, was found to have puncture marks on her arms, but her family said the former Ridgewood Community High School student had hated needles.

Further inquiries revealed potential witnesses would have been ‘unreliable’ and Mr Taylor returned a conclusion of a drugs-related death.

He told Miss Freeston’s mother, Sarah, that she had done all she could to ‘find some justice’ for her.

Mr Taylor said: “I can only applaud you for all the hard work you and your friends have put in to find some justice for your daughter.

“Nobody could have done more than you, but we are facing something of a problem with the sort of witnesses we have sadly come up against.

“It is not for me to sit here in judgement and say ‘yes, X injected or Y injected her’.

“I would be speculating and that would be unwise. What I can say is that there are huge suspicions that is what actually happened.”

Dr Richard Prescott, a consultant at Royal Blackburn Hospital, who performed the post-mortem examination on Miss Freeston, concluded she died from a combination of heroin, diazepam and the anti-depressant fluoxetine in her system.

A CPS spokesman said: “During an inquest in April, 2014, the East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor referred the case of the death of Elizabeth Freeston to the CPS to consider whether there should be a criminal prosecution against any individual.

“In deciding whether or not to prosecute the CPS must in every case consider whether there is sufficient evidence, and whether the evidence is reliable and can be used in court.

“In this case the CPS has considered in detail all the evidence provided by the police and has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against anyone in connection with Elizabeth Freeston’s death.

“We have provided a detailed explanation of our decision to Miss Freeston’s family and to the coroner.”