POET LEON WANTED HELP – NOW HE’S DEAD
But his partner wants him remembered as more than a heroin death statistic
LEON Silvester Lukins took to writing poems during his time in prison. They are raw, full of emotion and, sometimes, anger. Last week, a few months after being released, he died after a suspected heroin overdose on Friday, July 13.
Just a few days before he died, he had contacted me wanting to talk. He wrote on June 29: “I am a recovering addict and recent prison leaver living in a Swansea hostel about to leave and potentially be homeless.
“I wondered if you would like to do a story along the lines of the failing services and lack of real world support.”
He referred to how his son had died (in a shooting incident with police in England) and how he was registered disabled.
He said he wanted to talk about “how, from prison to release, the odds are stacked against people like me and others despite the further impact this has on our society as a whole and whether we, as Wales, can really do anything about it.”
We kept missing each other and, when we finally spoke at the beginning of the week that he died, he said to me he would give me a call back, that it wasn’t a good time to talk.
He never rang me back and, the following week, I got a call from his partner, Meinir, saying Leon had died after a suspected heroin overdose.
But Meinir wants him remembered as more than a heroin death statistic. He lived in an area that is being disproportionately hit by heroin deaths. Together with Neath Port Talbot, Swansea is among the 10 places in the UK with the highest rates of heroin deaths. Between 2014 and 2016, Swansea had a rate of 4.9 deaths per 100,000 people caused by heroin and morphine misuse, the second highest in Wales. The average across England is 1.9, while in Wales it’s 2.3.
Neighbouring Neath Port Talbot has the highest rate in Wales, with 5.7 deaths per 100,000.
Leon had lived in Swansea and the Neath area. He was regularly homeless and spent most of his adult life in and out of prison. He had spent the past five years in prison for a violent offence and had been released in March, when he was put in a hostel in Wrexham and then Bangor, before being moved down to a Swansea hostel in June.
But Meinir believes he was misunder- stood, and that his violent past did not reflect the man she knew.
“When he came out of prison, he was a totally changed man – I could tell he was in a lot of pain because of his writings,” she added. “We had been together for 10 years. We were best friends as well as lovers. I just feel as if part of me is gone – it is heartbreaking.”
By opening up about Leon’s life, Meinir hopes he will be remembered as more than someone suspected of dying from taking heroin.
Meinir continued: “Leon was such a strong character. He was an intelligent man who did stupid things. He was so sensitive underneath all that bravado.”
During his time in prison, Leon started to write poetry, Meinir said, adding he was a very talented writer. He caused a bit of trouble in prison in protest about the conditions.
Meinir, who lives in Cwmgors, said they first met through friends while Leon was living on the streets. They had lots of ups and downs as a couple, she said, but she knew she could always turn to him for advice.
“He was caring and used to worry about the young boys out on the streets and would try to help them,” she said.
Meinir said Leon “never got over” his son’s death. She said he was an on-andoff heroin user, which he did as a coping mechanism, for about eight years. He got clean in prison, but had started taking the class A drug again recently but was scared to ask for help as that would have meant he was recalled to prison.
The 46-year-old, who had mental health issues, was struggling as he had been abused as a teenager, she said, and was finding it hard in his hostel, where she believes he should never have been put given his background.
Colin Phillips, acting senior coroner for Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot, said the death has been reported and an inquest will be opened on Tuesday.
There are several services in Swansea offering support for those with problems with alcohol and/or drugs. These include The Place (for under 18s), AADAS (Abertawe Alcohol and Drug Assessment Service), the Welsh Centre for Action on Dependency and Addiction (WCADA) and Barod.