Cornish nurse on the frontline of Covid pandemic died after taking heroin in Porto

A Cornish nurse and her Swedish boyfriend died after they experimented with illegal drugs during a post-pandemic holiday in Portugal.

Sarah Curr and Adam Odling were found dead at an Airbnb apartment near the Cathedral in the centre of the city of Porto in January 2023. Police recovered drugs including heroin, cocaine and ecstasy at the address.

Sarah, aged 46, grew up in Cornwall, where her father was a doctor, but was working at Kings College in London and living in Blackheath at the time of her death.

She had been a teaching nursing until the Covid epidemic struck but then returned to front line work in a Nightingale hospital where she contracted Covid in late 2022.

She and Mr Odling went to Porto for a short break after her recovery and she died as a result of opiate toxicity after taking heroin, an inquest at Truro heard this week.

The assistant coroner Guy Davies said Sarah was not a regular drug taker and was 'opiate naive'.

The inquest was told that the two friends were both found dead in the apartment where drugs including heroin, cocaine and MDMA were found by police.

The coroner said it was unknown how or why the drugs were obtained but he said there was no third party involvement in the deaths.

Mr Davies said Sarah had a 'very demanding career with the NHS' and had been on a weekend break in Porto when they died.

Sarah’s sister Rachel told the inquest that Sarah worked in A&E in London and also taught nursing at King's College in London before joining the front line in the pandemic, being struck down by Covid herself at Christmas 2022.

A separate inquest will be held on Mr Odling, aged 49, who was the licensee of the Dover Castle pub in Southwood Street, Brighton.