‘Man died after smoking up to 15 Spice spliffs’

A MAN died after smoking “up to 15 spliffs” of Spice before being found unresponsive in the bathroom of his flat, an inquest heard.

David Foster, 31, had been living in a flat at Litchfield Court, Cardiff, with his partner, Bailey Lewis, when he was found unresponsive on the toilet on the morning of March 17 last year.

An inquest into his death at Pontypridd Coroner’s Court heard Mr Foster first began taking the synthetic cannabinoid drug Spice while homeless three years previously.

Mr Foster, from Bristol, began living on the streets aged 17 before moving to Cardiff.

On the evening before his death Mr Foster and his partner were at home and were joined by friends Jade Boland and Andrew McHugh.

Mr Foster, known as “Paddy” to friends, smoked Spice while the others smoked cannabis, the inquest heard.

The inquest heard that all four went to bed after midnight. Miss Boland and Mr McHugh were woken by Mr Lewis on the morning of March 17, stating Mr Foster was unresponsive in the bathroom.

After they were advised to administer CPR to Mr Foster, paramedics arrived at the property and pronounced him deceased.

Mr Foster’s partner gave a witness statement and stated he had smoked “between 10 and 15 spliffs”.

The deceased’s parents, Marcia and Andrew Foster, had raised concerns about marks found on Mr Foster’s body when they visited their son in the chapel of rest on April 6.

They said they had concerns about marks to his nose, eyes, neck and shoulder.

Paramedic Andrew Gambles, who attended the scene, said he did not report any obvious trauma to Mr Foster, and one of the first police officers at the flat said she had not been made aware of any injuries which could be related to the death.

Pathologist Dr Thomas Hockey, at the University Hospital of Wales, who carried out a post-mortem examination, said there were no signs of natural disease to explain the death and there were no injuries on Mr Foster which could be linked to his death.

Dr Hockey said compounds linked to synthetic cannabinoid drug Spice had been found in Mr Foster’s toxicology results and said the cause of death was likely cardiovascular toxicity.

Coroner Graeme Hughes acknowledged that Spice was a relatively new drug but that it has been proven to have cardiovascular effects. The coroner returned a finding of a drug-related death and offered his condolences to the family.