Teenager took fatal overdose of painkiller for broken hand

ATEENAGER died of an “accidental overdose” after a mutual friend gave him tramadol for pain caused by a broken bone.

Leo Rees, 17, was found dead at his home in Clydach Vale, Rhondda, at around 6.20pm on August 11, 2020.

On August 7, Leo was involved in a fight which left him with bruising to his body and pain in his hand.

At an inquest held at Pontypridd Coroners’ Court a statement read by assistant coroner Rachel Knight on behalf of Leo’s mother Karen Rees described how she and Leo attended the Royal Glamorgan Hospital on August 8 where he was told he had a broken hand.

Ms Rees’ statement described how over the next few days Leo was his usual self and was going out with friends, getting home late, and waking up late in the day as was usual behaviour for the teenager.

Ms Rees described how Leo complained about the pain in his hand and said she told him to take paracetamol, which she said was the only painkiller kept in the house.

On August 10, Leo met up with his friends Korben Waite and Keenan Holland at Macauley Smith’s house where they sat in a garden shed and smoked cannabis.

Reading evidence from Mr Waite, Ms Knight said: “We were all smoking cannabis before Leo turned up. We were talking about the fight that Leo had been involved with. Mac (Macauley) said he had something that could help with the pain. It was tramadol.”

Mr Waite described how Leo took a small number of tablets in 10 minutes before they returned to Mr Waite’s house later that evening where he took more of the tablets.

He described how by the early hours of the morning Leo looked ill but kept saying he was fine. Mr Waite described his friend as looking pale and sweaty.

Mr Waite described how Leo asked him for a glass of water so he could take more painkillers and Mr Waite refused, telling him not to take more, however he did take more tablets.

Leo asked Mr Waite to look up what the recommended dosage of tramadol was and they discovered that Leo had taken more than the recommended amount in a short period of time.

Giving evidence to the inquest on Wednesday, Mr Smith confirmed he had given Leo Rees tramadol.

He said: “[Leo] came in the shed and he was complaining about the pain in his hand and I saw how swollen it was and that is when I offered.”

Mr Smith told the court how he had been given the tramadol by a neighbour after he himself had been involved in a fight weeks earlier and said: “I knew they helped me when I was in pain so I thought they would help someone else.”

He added that he did not know they were strong painkillers and told the court he received a 12-month community order in connection with the incident.

Leo met with another friend that night by the name of Logan Raymond, the inquest heard.

A statement from Mr Raymond read by Ms Knight described how the pair met up at around 2am.

Mr Raymond described Leo as tired and said he kept putting his head in his hands and that he was sweating.

Leo told Mr Raymond he had taken tramadol and had been smoking cannabis before he later left to return home.

The following morning Leo’s mother Ms Rees noticed that his shoes were in the living room before she left for work and it was usual for him to sleep in so she did not wake him.

She returned home from work that evening just after 5pm and everything appeared as normal.

After a while she went to check on Leo in his bedroom and found him unresponsive. She called 999 for help.

A toxicology report found there were traces of diazepam, tramadol, and THC (a byproduct of cannabis) in Leo’s blood as well as paracetamol, tramadol, and benzoylecgonine (a byproduct of cocaine) in his urine.

The toxicology report said there was no way of identifying when these were consumed but added the finding of paracetamol and benzoylecgonine in urine and not blood indicated that it could have been days before his death and they were therefore not likely to have caused Leo’s death.

Concluding the inquest, Ms Knight said: “Leo Gillespie Rees, aged 17, was found deceased at his home in Clydach on August 11, 2020.

“Toxicology tests established that he had taken a toxic quantity of tramadol.

“It is more likely than not that Leo was self-medicating to try to ease the pain of a broken bone in his hand and that this was an accidental overdose.”

The coroner returned a finding of a drug-related death and offered her condolences to Leo’s family.