A COUNCIL worker died of an accidental alcohol and drug overdose after drinking half a bottle of vodka and taking cocaine, an inquest heard.

Zoe Martin had been drinking with friends in Thorpe-le-Soken on April 1 before she was found dead in a house in Station Road.

Friends Gabrielle Paradine and Claire Stafford discovered the 28-year-old on a camp bed, with her eyes open, the following morning.

The pair had been moving house to Colchester when Zoe met up with them.

Miss Paradine told a Chelmsford inquest she recorded a phone video of Zoe only hours before she died to show her the “consequences” of using drugs.

Miss Paradine said she had seen Zoe, from Chelmsford, snort several lines of cocaine during the evening.

Miss Caradine said: “I wanted her to see that she didn’t look good.

“Claire walked into the living room, walked back and said ‘Zoe’s got her eyes open. I don’t think she’s breathing’.

“I felt her arm for a pulse and she was freezing cold.

“I went for my phone. It was quite distressing because of where the house was it’s hard to tell the emergency services where we lived.

“I was told (by the operator) to move Zoe from the camp bed and place her on the floor.

“I said I wasn’t going to perform resuscitation because she was dead. She had gone.”

Zoe, a Chelmsford Council CCTV worker, had just accepted a job as an Essex Police civilian worker .

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said: “There has been no evidence Zoe intended to take her own life.

“This was a tragic accident. She was clearly a much-loved girl who had a bright future ahead of her.”

The coroner recorded an accidental death verdict.