Natalie Connolly murder trial told of victim’s drink habit
A woman found dead after a night of drink-and-drugs fuelled sex had been admitted to hospital a number of times following binge drinking bouts, a murder trial heard.
Natalie Connolly had consumed ‘potentially fatal’ levels of alcohol and was more than five times the drink-drive limit on the night she died at the Kinver home she shared with multi-millionaire John Broadhurst, 40, the court was told.
She was found to have 389mg per 100ml of alcohol in her blood, which alone could have killed her, in addition to high levels of cocaine, toxicologist Stephen Morley told Birmingham Crown Court.
In England and Wales, the alcohol limit for drivers is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
But the jury heard that the 28-year-old was a regular binge drinker, and it was not unusual for her to drink up to 10 pints of cider on a night out.
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Prosecutor Mr David Mason, QC, suggested this would have built up her tolerance to alcohol, and Mr Morley agreed she would have had ‘some, if not a significant’ alcohol tolerance.
But Mr Stephen Vullo, QC, argued that Miss Connolly’s history of hospital admissions suffering from excessive alcohol intake indicated that, on the contrary, her tolerance was not good.
The jury heard she was treated at A&E departments in 2010 and 2011 suffering from alcohol intoxication, and admitted to hospital in 2013 after falling down the stairs whilst drunk.
Her GP notes also revealed that in 2015 she confessed to her doctor that she was drinking too much because of her low mood at the time.
Mr Morley said: “She was certainly not a naive drinker and would have gained some tolerance” but he added that neither was she a highly tolerant drinker.
Broadhurst allegedly found Miss Connolly’s naked body at the bottom of the stairs at their rented Kenrose Mill home at 9.25am on December 17, 2016 – in the spot where he had left her in a ‘woozy’ state seven hours earlier.
He told police he had been unable to lift his partner and so had left her there and gone to bed.
A post mortem concluded that a combination of injuries and alcohol caused her death.
She was found with 40 injuries over her body, including bruises across her head and arms.
Earlier the court heard that the pair had met at a pub in Bewdley and began an affair when Broadhurst’s long-term partner was eight months pregnant with their second child.
In the hours before her death, Miss Connolly and Broadhurst had spent the afternoon drinking in an executive box at West Bromwich Albion's Hawthorns' ground and later at a curry house before returning home and continuing the party alone.
The pair had been due to spend Christmas in Dubai with the defendant's family and Miss Connolly's daughter from a previous relationship.
Broadhurst, of Blakeshall Farm, Wolverley, denies murder and causing grievous bodily harm on December 18, 2016.
The trial continues.
