Mum found tragic son dead in his bedroom

INQUEST HEARS STUDENT HAD TAKEN COCKTAIL OF DRUGS

A STUDENT who had been rushed to hospital following an overdose was found dead in his bedroom a week later.

Matei Sebastien Gheorghiu, 23, was found in his Salford bedroom by his mother on April 22, 2020.

An inquest into Matei’s death at Bolton Coroners Court heard how he was found with a ‘cocktail’ of substances in his body.

The court was told Matei had a history of mental health issues and a history of prescription and illicit drug use.

The inquest was told the week before his death Matei had been rushed to Salford Royal Hospital after his mother had found him unresponsive.

At the hospital they found that Matei had overdosed on Ritalin, which he had ‘sourced’ himself. When his mother asked him about the use of the drug, he said that the overdose was not ‘intentional’ and he had taken a dose to concentrate on writing his essays but carried on upping his dosage as he felt they weren’t working.

The inquest heard how on the night of his death, police saw a message between Matei and a dealer that referred to MDMA being ‘available’ but cops were unable to view access the rest of the message.

Police ruled that there were no suspicious circumstances around Matei’s death and that there was no third party involved regarding his death and no drugs were found in Matei’s room, however there was some missing medication.

Coroner Peter Sigee, who recorded a conclusion of misadventure, said he could not be sure that Matei had any intentions of suicide and believed that he ‘deliberately took the drugs to relieve himself of any symptoms, but had no intentions of causing harm to himself.’

Described as ‘ridiculously intelligent’ and a ‘kind, caring, compassionate human being’ Matei was a top class student who was studying his masters at the University of Central London.

Born in Sweden, Matei lived in Salford with his mother – Dr Antonia Petreanu – where he returned after the country was placed in lockdown in early 2020.

In the months prior to his death, Matei had been in the care of his GPs and Salford’s home-based treatment service, which is an alternative to hospital admission and supports people who are in a mental health crisis. He was also being treated by the community mental health team.

Pathologist Dr Bashir Muhammed told the court that there was several substances found in Matei’s body including morphine, codeine, promethazine, MDMA, amphetamines and opiates. He concluded that Matei’s medical cause of death was morphine/ heroin toxicity.