GAZZA NEPHEW ‘WAS CRACKED & BROKEN’
Teen overdosed on drug cocktail
PAUL Gascoigne’s troubled nephew felt “cracked and broken” in the days before a drug overdose killed him, an inquest heard yesterday.
Jay Gascoigne, 22, also known as Jay Kerrigan, overdosed on a cocktail of illegal and prescription drugs after battling depression for years.
His girlfriend found his lifeless body on her bed in her Gateshead flat on April 30, 2016.
South Tyneside Coroner’s Court heard he had taken a sedative, cannabis and morphine, but there was no indication the overdose was deliberate. Jay had struggled with addiction, anorexia and obsessive compulsive disorder, and was bullied at school because of his famous uncle, the hearing was told.
His heartbroken mum Anna Kerrigan said: “He seemed to be really broken.
“Every day he was going further down. He was depressed. He was talking about feeling cracked and broken.” She said Jay, an apprentice at environmental charity Groundwork, had received treatment from the age of 13, but was left without professional support when he became an adult.
She added that he “seemed to fall between the crack of mental health and drug services”, and “couldn’t cope with the voices in his head”. Drug services considered him inappropriate for a programme as his mental health issues needed to be addressed, she claimed.
But mental health services would not help until Jay got clean, the inquest was told.
He self-medicated with drugs and became reliant on “non-prescription opiates” bought online.
In a statement, Anna said: “Jay was a sensitive child who was funny and fun to be around.
“He was bullied at school because of his uncle’s celebrity status.”
Pathologist Dr Anthony Cross said he thought Jay’s heart was unable to pump blood around his body after he fell into a deep sleep from the drugs.
The inquest continues.