Drug overdose victim 'slipped through the net'

The young woman found dead from a drug overdose on Tuesday was "a typical case of a person who failed to be caught by the safety net", sources said yesterday.

The 20-year-old was dumped inside the grounds of St Luke's Hospital early in the morning in an area between the detox centre and the casualty department. A car was spotted speeding out of the hospital just after 2 a.m.

It has been established that the woman suffered from a heroin overdose. She died either because the heroin she took was badly mixed or was purer than she was used to.

She was a regular heroin abuser whose father had also died of an overdose some three years ago in Sliema. She was however unknown to the police or to the detox centre, the sources said.

She had no fixed address and the police are still trying to find out who she may have been with over the weekend.

The sources said that although only 20, she looked much older.

The girl's death is the fourth fatal drug overdose this year. In one of the cases, it was established that the victim had abused both heroin and cocaine.