Consultant killed by laxative overdose weighed four stone
A PR consultant who helped set up the Silver Line charity died in alone her flat surrounded by laxatives after suffering from anorexia nervosa, an inquest heard.
Cambridge graduate Alexia Latham, 48, helped Esther Rantzen start the organisation which assisted the elderly, the court heard.
Police went to her fourth floor flat in Gloucester Terrace, Bayswater, on June 28 last year and found Ms Latham lying behind the door in the hallway.
PC Fernando Santos Dos Santos said Ms Latham ‘appeared extremely underweight.’
‘The property was very dirty and cluttered. It appeared they did not look after it very well or themselves,’ the officer told Inner West London Coroner’s Court.
He found constipation medication on the floor of the living room with other laxatives.
Ms Latham had not been to see her doctor since March of 2020 but her medical records showed she had suffered from depression and had been treated for anorexia since February 2017.
The consultant was born in Vienna but her family moved to London and she studied law at Cambridge after attending St Pauls Girl’s School.
After working as a solicitor she moved into PR and also worked a a part time model.
Ms Latham, who was 5ft 1in tall, weighed just over four stone at the time of her death.
Ms Latham’s parents attended the inquest on a remote link and heard their daughter had taken a massive dose of the laxative Bisacodyl.
Pathologist Dr Ali Alhakin said the drugs and Ms Latham’s anorexia had caused her death.
Blood, vomit and faeces were found in the toilet at the flat and Dr Alhakin said the drugs may have caused both severe dehydration and blood loss.
Her mother said her daughter was extremely thin but her death was a ‘complete shock.’
She said her daughter had been vaccinated for Covid a few days before but this was ruled out as having any connection with her death.
In a narrative verdict, assistant coroner Russell Caller found Ms Latham had died from the drugs overdose and her condition.
‘The deceased was suffering from anorexia and a combination of this and the overdose of laxatives caused her death,’ he said.
