Parents in warning after son’s drug death

THE PARENTS of a hardworking 19-year-old mechanical engineer who died after taking drugs for what police believe was the first time have urged others not to make the same deadly mistake.

Leeds United fan Josh Edwards of Bramley suffered a fatal reaction to ecstasy and cocaine and died in hospital after suffering a fitting episode.

Police seized drugs and arrested six other people who had taken illegal substances at a house in Bramley during the inquiry following Josh’s death in May 2017.

Recording a verdict of drug-related death, senior coroner Kevin McLoughlin said the six were “too cowardly” to fully co-operate with the police inquiry and had put their own interests before Josh’s family.

Josh’s mother Candace, 46, told the inquest: “He was up for work at 6am, he just wasn’t a drugs person.”

Mrs Edwards said Josh was family-oriented and hard working and she had not seen any indication that he had experimented with drugs.

In statement read to the inquest, Josh’s father Gareth, 48, said: “Josh was a dream son and we are immensely proud of him.”

Police were called to Victoria Park Avenue in Bramley on May 14, 2017 after Josh had a fitting episode, He died later in hospital.

Josh was a mechanical engineer at Pudsey manufacturing company OMCO.

Detective Sergeant Lisa Watts said police believe the six people arrested “protected themselves” rather than give police a full picture of what had happened to investigate.