Woman fights for life after drug horror

TWO people frantically attempted to resuscitate a critically-ill woman after she collapsed in Ipswich, it emerged today.

The pair desperately tried to keep the female alive as she lay on the ground in the parking area behind shops and flats in Cambridge Drive.

Police said the seriously ill woman was still in a critical condition at Ipswich Hospital today.

One shop worker told how her colleague from the One Stop convenience store in Cambridge Drive tried to help the stricken female as the incident unfolded around 7pm yesterday.

The woman, who is in her 40s and from Ipswich, had previously been seen with a man at the rear of the premises. Both were swaying around and causing concern.

The worker said: “One of the girls here was watching them. She actually thought the man was going to fall over.

“She didn't see the lady fall, but the man was shouting.

“A gentleman who lives in the flats came and started heart compressions. Janine (the shop worker) was on the phone to the 999 operator who said 'could you tilt her on her back and blow into her mouth'.

“But someone in the crowd shouted 'don't do that, she is a heroin addict'.”

Police officers were called to the scene after receiving reports of a suspicious man and woman at the back of the shops.

One eye-witness said as she came past the area she saw a woman was lying on a bag on the floor.

She said: “I thought she was sleeping at first, then I saw she looked blue and I thought she must be dead. “I asked the man with her if she was all right and he just grumbled back at me saying she was fine.

“He looked like he was drunk and had been doing drugs.

“The woman lying on the floor had a needle in her foot and it looked like she had smacked her head.”

Another bystander, who asked not to be named, said the woman who discovered the collapsed female, was a member of staff at the One Stop shop.

The bystander said: “She said she heard the guy shouting and noticed the woman on the floor,” she said.

“She was resuscitating the woman, going mad because the ambulance got lost. She was helping to resuscitate her right up until the paramedics arrived.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said they were initially called to attend to two people lying on the road, but there was just one casualty at the scene.

He said: “We treated the female at the scene and rushed her into hospital.”

Police officers, aided by the police helicopter, were searching for the man, who was seen with the woman.

A 44-year-old Felixstowe man was arrested at about 7.30pm in Alderlee, just a few roads away from the scene, on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug. He was also taken to hospital, but has since been released and was in custody at Ipswich police station today.

He was being held on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug.

Scenes of crime officers were expected at Cambridge Drive this morning as the investigation into what happened continues.