Homeless paedophile honoured by Corbyn died of ‘spice’ overdose

‘Chaotic binge drinker’

A homeless paedophile who Jeremy Corbyn paid tribute to after his body was found in a subway yards from Parliament, died of a ‘spice’ overdose, an inquest heard yesterday.

The death of marcos Amaral Gourgel, who was found on a bitterly cold night lying in a Tube underpass used by politicians, was hailed by labour’s leader as a symbol of an uncaring society.

mr Corbyn left a floral tribute at the spot he died saying: ‘This should never have happened. As a country we must stop walking by. Rest in peace.’

he later posted on Twitter: ‘I’ve just been told about the death of a rough sleeper right by the entrance to Parliament. The powerful can’t carry on walking by on the other side while people don’t have a home to call their own.’ It later emerged that the 35-year-old was a sex offender and illegal immigrant who had come back into the country after being deported twice for sexually abusing a child in the UK.

Yesterday Westminster coroner’s court heard that his death wasn’t caused by the freezing temperatures on the night of February 14, but an overdose of the so-called zombie drug spice.

Described as a ‘chaotic binge drinker’ who had been known to homeless charities for a decade, the inquest heard that he was ‘ret- icent’ to explain to various shelters his whereabouts during long periods when he went missing.

Now it can be revealed that the former model from Portugal, who was of Angolan origin, breached his parole by failing to notify police of his whereabouts within three days of his release from a prison sentence in 2012 for sexually abusing a child. he was jailed for a year and later deported back to Portugal in 2014. But he sneaked back to Britain leading to his deportation two years later.

Yesterday coroner’s officer Komi omadoye said: ‘At the time of his death he was unemployed and homeless, he was identified by his fingerprints. Not a lot is known about his previous medical history apart from that he was a chaotic binge drinker and sometimes presented as paranoid.’

The inquest heard that mr Gourgel was spotted by outreach workers for a homeless charity on January 2 this year and offered a bed at their night centre. he stayed at Connection at st martin in the Fields, central london, until February 11. he was then offered a place to stay at a winter shelter run by Glass Door in Wandsworth, south west london. But he had an argument with two other residents on the night of his death.

he left the shelter at around 2.30am and returned to Westminster Tube station, where he was found dead about five hours later.

linda Alexander, deputy manager of Connection said: ‘his mental health was of concern as he was paranoid and sought attention from staff constantly about employment and accommodation though there were plans in place.’

Recording a verdict of death by misuse of drugs, Assistant Coroner shirley Radcliffe said: ‘There was no alcohol in blood but there was evidence of synthetic cannabis also known as spice.

‘The doctor finds on the balance of probabilities that the cause of death in this gentleman was synthetic cannabis, spice, ingestion.’

A spokesman for mr Corbyn declined to comment on the inquest yesterday.