A 23-YEAR-OLD battling drug and mental health problems “seemed to be enjoying life” days before dying from an overdose, an inquest heard.

Jayden Staniland died on July 7, 2016 after she was found slumped in her bed at Orchard Close Care Home in Wanstead, with over three times the lethal dose of morphine in her blood.

She had been waiting for an appointment at the gender clinic to become a boy.

Coroner Nadia Persaud heard evidence from care workers, healthcare professionals, and the emergency services about how Ms Staniland died during an inquest on Tuesday (February 7).

Ms Staniland moved into the home in Rodney Road in May 2015, after being made homeless by her previous accomodation.

There, she received 24-hour care for a long list of conditions, which consultant psychiatrist Dr Francis James Dunne said included a borderline personality disorder and dated back to the age of 13. 

He said to the East London Coroner’s Court in Walthamstow: “She was emotionally unstable.

“She suffered from mood swings that can vary not just from day to day, but hour to hour.

“People with borderline personality disorders have very chaotic lifestyles and often have suicidal tendencies and gestures.”

Dr Dunne, who works for North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT), had an appointment with Ms Stanliand a week before her death on June 30, when he was told of her two methadone overdoses in April and May 2015, and another from heroin in January 2016.

The 23-year-old was also in a wheelchair and paralysed from the waist down after jumping from the fourth floor a building in a bid to kill herself back in August 2013, the inquest heard.

Ms Staniland changed her name from Jessica Alice to Jayden in November 2015 and was waiting for an appointment at the gender reassignment clinic at Charing Cross Hospital. 

But Dr Dunne could not believe she had been put on the waiting list “with all her problems”.

He added: “I couldn’t understand how she had got an appointment for gender transition. How was she well enough?

“She received benefits every two weeks, which she would often use to buy heroin.

“I stressed the risks of mixing all the medication she was on with the illegal drugs she was taking.

“But she had been taking heroin, cocaine, and cannabis for a long time – I think she thought she was immune.

“She didn’t want to go on a drug and alcohol programme, she said it was just a waste of time and all she wanted was a sex change.”

Dr Dunne added Ms Staniland denied feeling suicidal at the time of their appointment.

But despite referring her to NELFT’s psychiatric team after she kept cutting herself with razors, care home manager Michelle Bunn claims things were looking more promising for her.

She said: “In the last 10 days of her life we noticed a complete change in her.

“She was in the house much more, helping with the cleaning, and keeping other residents company.

“It’s so sad. She had an interview for a volunteer role at a day centre in Goodmayes a week after she died.

“We were thinking that volunteer job could be the thing to finally break down her barriers.

“But that was how Jayden’s life was – fine one minute and in crisis the next.”

Ms Bunn added her patient always had a difficult relationship with her mother, who “wasn’t very happy” about her daughter wanting a sex change.

She added: “I hope she just took the drugs again and it just went horribly wrong.

“She had read a lot on the internet about people like her on drugs not getting past the first gender reassignment appointment.

“The thought of dealing with her problems was very painful for her.

“So she used to take the drugs to forget.”

Ms Persaud ruled Ms Stanliand’s death as “drug-related”, concluding there was not enough evidence to call it a suicide.