‘Special’ young dad died after cocaine binge
AYOUNG father who was “a pleasure to be around” died of a drug overdose after snorting eight lines of cocaine in a single night, an inquest heard.
Aaron Thomas, 24, died on January 12 this year at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, after he collapsed on a friend’s sofa following a drugs binge.
Mr Thomas, from the city’s docklands area, had everything to live for, said his foster mother Linda Francis.
He had just got engaged to his fiancée of three years on Boxing Day and the couple were expecting their first child together. He had a son, Harri, from a previous relationship.
But some tragic news from his best friend Sam Harris on Wednesday, January 10, set off a chain of events that ended in his death, a coroner heard.
Mr Harris, who said Mr Thomas was “like a brother”, had just received news that his father had been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
In distress he phoned Mr Thomas, who was working as a machine operator at FEI Foods in Winch Wen.
Mr Thomas had spent a period staying with Mr Harris and his family during his childhood and was distraught at the news.
The pair went out drinking that afternoon, despite warnings from Mr Thomas’ fiancée Sallyann Evans during a brief phone call that alcohol would only make matters worse.
Mr Thomas did not return home that night and phoned Miss Evans at 10am on Thursday, January 11, to say that he needed a couple of days to come to terms with the news.
The couple argued and Miss Evans told Mr Thomas: “There are other ways to deal with it rather than taking Sam drinking”.
That evening Mr Thomas met a friend, Jodie Webster, at a bar in Wind Street after the pair arranged to catch up.
They went back to Ms Webster’s house to carry on drinking and watch TV where Mr Thomas produced cocaine from his wallet, according to a report prepared by South Wales Police constable Paul Thomas and read at the hearing.
He then proceeded to snort around eight lines of cocaine throughout the rest of the evening, the inquest heard.
Mr Thomas collapsed on the sofa at around midnight and died in Morriston Hospital in the early hours of Friday, January 12. He had more than double the toxic level of cocaine in his system.
Mr Thomas was brought up by his foster mother, Linda Francis, who said: “He was a pleasure to be around and fitted well into our family.
“He was so happy and in love. Sallyann was the best thing that ever happened to him.”
Mrs Francis said she had fostered more than 500 children, but Mr Thomas was a “special person” and was one of only three who kept in regular contact with her.
A pathologist’s report concluded Mr Thomas died of acute cocaine toxicity.
Coroner Colin Phillips recorded a conclusion of death by misadventure during yesterday’s inquest.