Blackburn man dies of cocaine, heroin and methadone toxicity, days after crashing his car

Abdul Waheed, from Blackburn, was discovered with cocaine, heroin and methadone in his system after being found collapsed at a friend's house in Gretna Walk on November 23 2019.

An inquest in Preston heard that Mr Waheed, who was last known to live in Rothesay Road, turned up at Nigel Whalley's house at 2am on November 23, saying he had nowhere to stay.

Complaining of a headache, Mr Whalley suggested he seek medical treatment but Mr Waheed refused, and instead went to sleep on the sofa.

When Mr Whalley came downstairs at 11am, it was clear his friend had died and an ambulance was called.

Coroner Richard Taylor said the 38-year-old, who had been on a methadone programme with drug service Inspire since 2017, but had recently relapsed, had been involved in a car crash on November 21, and had sustained several blows to the head.

He told the hearing: "A post mortem was carried out on Mr Waheed, who had a number of injuries to his head and face, consistent with being caused by a blow to the head, but which could also have been caused by a car accident.

"There were also other abrasions and bruises on his face, but all the external injuries were minor and did not contribute to this death.

"The final mechanism of death was severe brain swelling, and toxicology revealed that he had cocaine, heroin and methadone in his system as well as other drugs, but these were in low quantities."

Mr Taylor told the inquest that even though methadone and heroin have a sedative effect, with cocaine being a stimulant, combining the drugs does not cancel out the respective effects but enhances the damage done to the respiratory system.

He went on to say: "The combination of drugs could have caused the swelling in the brain, but so could the blows from the car crash.

"However, despite there being damage to Mr Waheed's brain as a result of the accident, it was relatively minor and was not thought to have caused this brain swelling.

"Very rarely delayed swelling could occur but that could only be diagnosed if all other factors could be excluded.

"In this case the medical cause of death was offered as cocaine, heroin and methadone toxicity."

A drug related death conclusion was recorded.