PROSECUTORS in Amsterdam have charged a man over the alleged ‘murder’ of a Burnley man who took white heroin, thinking that it was cocaine.

But the dealer – known only as ‘Flip S’ in official papers – may walk free amid conflicting evidence that he was the dealer whose narcotics caused the death of Joel McDevitt and two other visitors from the Plymouth area.

Mr McDevitt, 22, died after taking drugs in the Dutch city in October 2014. A friend also on the trip was hospitalised and had to be resuscitated at an Amsterdam hospital.

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Each had been found near the Reguilersgracht Canal in the centre of the city, before being taken to separate medical institutions. The second man, who was never named, later discharged himself.

The former Burnley College student’s death was one of three over the same period, with Plymouth friends Shaun Livingston, 20, and Bradley Price, 21, also collapsing and dying after apparently taking ‘white heroin’.

An investigation was launched by Amsterdam police, with three Danish holidaymakers also falling seriously ill through the same means and unprecedented citywide warnings being issued about rogue drugs being in circulation.

Detectives issued CCTV stills of a suspect they wanted to question in relation to the deaths and related cases - prompting a dealer called Flip S to hand himself in to the authorities.

But lawyers in Amsterdam have encountered difficulties with the case, with conflicting descriptions attributed to the dealer and some British tourists, implicated in the case, said to be refusing to co-operate.

Flip S is facing three murder and 12 attempted murder charges in total, all relating to the alleged sale of ‘white heroin’ as cocaine in autumn last year.

He has accepted selling the drugs to the Danes but denied all charges relating to the Britons.

Gerald Roethof, his lawyer, said in a Dutch newspaper: “Flip S has always said himself that he sold the stuff in February 2015 to three Danes, who were unwell.

“He reported himself to the police. According to him, he was under the impression that he sold cocaine, and he had bought the stuff from another supplier. Who it was is still unclear.”

His legal team has attempted to seek bail for the self-confessed dealer, ahead of an expected trial next year for the three murder allegations, including the case of Mr McDevitt.

But the public prosecutor is arguing that his admissions so far are enough to keep him in custody - and he must have been aware of the inherent risks when he sold the drugs.

An inquest has been opened and adjourned in Burnley into Mr McDevitt’s death, by East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor, pending the outcome of the Dutch investigations.

Illuminated warning signs were placed at strategic points around Amsterdam in the wake of the three Britons’ deaths in late 2014. Investigators had originally sought a dealer ‘on a bike’.