An inquest has been held into the death of a young woman who passed away while working overseas.

Ashleigh Wallis, 22, of Strood, had been pursuing her dream job of working abroad as an English teacher in Taiwan.

But on November 18 her family received the devastating news she had died.

An inquest saw coroner Katrina Hepburn conclude it was a drug-related death.

The court heard the 22-year-old was living alone in the western district of Taiwan and on November 14 "hit her head" which caused a headache.

Reading evidence, Ms Hepburn told how Ashleigh went to work the next day and was told by her supervisor to go to the hospital where she had a CT scan which came back clear.

On November 16, Ashleigh – who was born in Gravesend – "went to work like normal and went out with friends for dinner" in the evening. The next morning, she called in sick to work as she was suffering from a migraine – which she had a history of – but "offered to come into work in the afternoon but got given the whole day off".

On November 18, she had not turned up to work and friends could not contact her. They rung the emergency services who "broke down the door" and found her unresponsive in her flat.

In a post-mortem conducted in the UK, forensic pathologist Doctor Rouse told he could not confirm the cause of death from an examination but using the toxicology results saw a fatal level of a substance.

Ms Hepburn concluded the cause of death to be drug related but could not confirm the exact time.

She added: "I have a limited amount of information which is common with deaths abroad. There are a lot of gaps we do not have information for. There will be unanswered questions for the family."

Ashleigh graduated from university during the pandemic and set her sights on teaching abroad. In September 2020, she set off for Taiwan and worked in a primary school teaching English as a second language.

After she passed away, parents Marvin and Julia spent weeks working with the Foreign Office and the Taiwan Embassy to try to bring her body home.

Initially they were told it could take up to two months for the authorities to release her, having to wait for the final post-mortem report. They were quoted more than £13,000 for repatriation.

Godmother Charlene Howard set up a fundraising page to help secure the family funds.

More than £23,000 was raised to cover the excess fees as the family intended to use their own cash to cover the initial costs quoted.

Speaking previously, Charlene, 39, paid tribute to her "incredible" god-daughter.

"Ashleigh was amazing," she said. "She was a really funny, witty and smart little girl. She was fearless, she knew what she wanted to do and she was going to go get it.

"She had the biggest heart and she was always so helpful. She was just a great kid. Ashleigh loved doing that job and she was always smiling. She was never not smiling."

She added: "Ashleigh had a determination about her and nothing was ever going to stop her. She was just coming into her own. She was – and would have been – incredible. We are in awe of her."