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Double life of the addict who took 10 times fatal drug dose
Death blamed on a lethal strain of
heroin that has already claimed three lives
AN addict died after taking enough heroin to kill 10 people,
an inquest has heard.
The body of Robert Byrd (pictured), 35, was found by his mother,
Brenda, at Chestnuts Hotel in Branch Hill, Hampstead, on June
10 last year.
A St Pancras inquest was told on Thursday that he may have been
dead for up to a week.
His mother said her son’s death must have been suicide,
but Mr Byrd’s long-time friend, Edward Kellman, a drugs
counsellor in Lambeth, questioned why no suicide note had been
left.
He suggested a lethal strain of heroin, which claimed the lives
of three men in Camden last summer, could have been to blame.
The inquest was told Mr Byrd, who led a double life as an addict
in West Hampstead and a popular family man at his home in Archway,
had made many attempts to come off drugs
He was having his methadone prescription reduced, and had returned
from a successful detox programme in Thailand just two months
before his death.
Mrs Byrd, who lives in Parkhill Road, West Hampstead, said:
“He could talk to kings and fools. He was a lovely boy.”
She broke down in tears on hearing Home Office pathologist Dr
Freddie Patel’s evidence that her son had been dead for
up to a week when he was found.
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid said Mr Byrd had taken over a gram of
heroin – enough to last most addicts a week. He added:
“Robert Byrd took nearly 10 times the fatal amount. The
verdict is death by drug abuse.” |
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