Dad found dead after drink and drug cocktail
A DAD who was found dead on a stairwell of a derelict office block had a cocktail of drink and drugs in his system, including cocaine and Spice, an inquest heard.
The body of Robert Paul Pritchard, 36, was discovered in a five-storey building on York Street in Manchester city centre – more than 100 miles from his home – last September.
Father-of-eight Mr Pritchard, from Coventry, was described as a ‘loving and doting’ dad, but he had no friends or family links to Manchester and his family told the hearing they still had no real idea why he had travelled there.
He was found in the recently vacated building where around 38 homeless people had been living in an illegal squat, the inquest was told, with one of those raising the alarm after discovering a body at around 7.30am on Monday, September 11, 2017.
One of the rough sleepers, a woman who rang 999, said she had seen him between 11pm and 3am the previous night ‘socialising’ with another man and that he ‘seemed to be under the influence of drink and drugs,’ the inquest at Manchester Town Hall was told.
There were some cuts and bruises around his head and face and some blood near to where he was found, with police initially treating the death as suspicious.
However, a pathologist said ‘there was nothing to make me think he had been physically assaulted prior to his death’ and that the injuries were most likely caused by him collapsing or falling on the stairs.
Toxicology tests found he had cocaine and cocaine metabolites (bi-products of the drug) as well as 5F-ADB, a chemical found in synthetic cannabinoids, known as Spice. He also had traces of the sleeping drug zopiclone and a ‘considerable’ amount of alcohol in his system.
Claire Pritchard, Robert’s sister, said her brother had battled mental illness. “I believe he started to struggle with his own mental illnesses. I don’t think he could cope,” she said.
His family had previously said they had no idea why he had travelled to Manchester and Claire said: “All we can think is that it might be money or drugs, or he was trying to get back to the Isle of Man (where had previously lived), or he was on his way to visit our uncle in Yorkshire who he had visited previously.
“He doesn’t have any friends or contacts in Manchester.”
Evidence was read from his GP James Smith about paranoid psychosis he had suffered from, ‘thought to be the result of cannabis use.’
The inquest was also told he was the subject of a number of violent assaults, including a recent stabbing just weeks before he was found. However, the pathologist said these injuries were healing and not linked to his death.
Assistant coroner Angharad Davies recorded Mr Pritchard’s death was drug-related, saying that the substances he had taken prior to his death ‘when combined had a fatal effect.’ “I find his cause of death was (drug) toxicity and that, when combined, these had a fatal effect.”