Home Secretary’s brother suffered ‘unnatural death’

THE ELDEST brother of Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, was found drowned in a five-star hotel room after taking codeine and alcohol, an inquest heard yesterday. Tariq Javid, 52, had suffered an “unnatural death” the coroner said and ordered a full inquest.

The body of Mr Javid, a retail manager, was found in his room at the South Lodge Hotel in Lower Beeding, Horsham, West Sussex, on July 29. A post mortem examination showed that he died from a combination of drowning, ethanol and codeine toxicity and serious heart disease.

Mr Javid, who was divorced, had driven to the hotel, where rooms typically cost £300 a night, from his home about 10 minutes drive away.

He was the eldest of five brothers that includes the Home Secretary. Another brother, Basit Javid, who served in the Navy in the first Gulf War and is now a chief superintendent in West Midlands Police, identified the body.

Mr Javid’s daughter Hannah opened a fundraising page last month on the Justgiving website in memory of her father.