The father of a young woman who died after taking fentanyl has said the family are ready to move on after an inquest into her death ended with an open conclusion.

Erin Bushnell, 23, from Grays, was found dead by her father on June 23 this year.

It was later revealed, during a post mortem, that she had died from an overdose of fentanyl.

William Bushnell, Erin’s father, had originally believed that she had mistakenly taken the drug, believing it was the Xanax she was taking.

But the police report revealed that the Xanax they found in her room did not contain the deadly drug.

Mr Bushnell said: “She definitely died of fentanyl poisoning but the damning part was that the Xanax did not contain fentanyl.”

An inquest into Erin’s death was held on Friday, November 10 where the result was an open conclusion.

This means that the coroner did not have enough evidence to say whether the death was the result of an accident or a suicide.

Although the result was inconclusive, Mr Bushnell has said that his family and him need to remain strong and look forward to future events in their lives.

He said: “We were more surprised really with the result. Up until last Tuesday, we were under the impression that it was just a horrible accident. 

“Then four months down the line, to have that thrust upon us that it might have been a suicide was quite a revelation really. 

“This is something that we can’t ever be satisfied in with full knowledge, as a family we have just got to accept the open verdict because there is no evidence either way. 

“It’s sort of all up in the air really. 

“As a family, it’s something that we have just got to come to terms with. 

“It just makes it that much harder, but at the end of the day there’s nothing that anybody can do about – it’s not going to change the outcome of it. 

“We have just got to, as a family, try to be strong and look forward to other events in our lives. 

“It’s been very hard as a family to come to terms with, but what are the options really? There aren’t any. 

“As a family, we have just got to get on with our lives.”

Erin appeared in the Gazette back in August this year after her father came to the paper to warn others of the dangers of purchasing non-prescription drugs from unofficial sources online.