Drug user died from heart attack

A RUNCORN man who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction from the age of 13 died of a heart attack caused by cocaine, an inquest has concluded.

Michael David Johnson, 34, of Beacon Hill View, Weston Point, was found collapsed and unconscious behind Pound Bakery on Church Street on Saturday, October 21 by a staff member as she arrived to open up the bakery outlet at 7.10am.

At an inquest in Warrington on Tuesday, senior coroner for Cheshire Alan Moore read a statement from store worker Katie Wainwright who said Mr Johnson was ‘flat on his back’ and appeared to be asleep and snoring with his mouth ‘opening and closing’.

She was concerned and called for an ambulance and, in turn, police were notified.

Attempts to resuscitate were made and Mr Johnson was taken to Warrington General Hospital and declared deceased at 9.09am.

Detective Sergeant Ian Smith investigated and located CCTV that showed Mr Johnson collapsing at 1.18am behind the bakery.

The clip showed he had been alone before his collapse and afterwards until he was found.

An examination of his body found no injuries other than what may have been injection marks in his groin.

Toxicology tests completed by Dr Collin Seneviratne revealed traces of a wide variety of prescription and illicit drugs in his blood and urine including cocaine, cannabinoids, amphetamine, diazepam, duloxetine, zopliclone, oxycodone, pregabalin, mirtazapine and the prescription heroin withdrawal drug, buprenorphine.

Mr Johnson was found to have low amounts of alcohol in his urine and none in his blood, indicating that this was produced by post-mortem microbial fermentation rather than drink.

A post mortem carried out by Dr Catherine Manson found that Mr Johnson had an enlarged heart with an abnormal blood vessel featuring ‘marked narrowing’ which was suggestive of being cocaine-induced.

The inquest heard that cocaine can cause heart failure in low or even undetectable amounts.

Dr Manson recorded the cause of death as cardiac failure due to cocaineinduced cardiomyopathy.

Although Mr Johnson had tried to take his own life in the past, his mother, Carolynne Johnson, said he had been in good spirits when she last saw him earlier in October, and Anthony Kitchener, an acquaintance of Mr Johnson’s, had reported Mr Johnson to be in a similar state of good mood when he saw him the night before his death between around 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Friday, October 20.

Mr Johnson was unemployed and single.

His mother said he had been a keen gym-goer despite his drug and alcohol problems and suspected undiagnosed mental health issues.

He had told his parents he was a ‘heroin addict’ at the age of 18.

The coroner was satisfied from the evidence that the cause of death was a heart attack caused by cocaine-induced myopathy and he recorded a conclusion that the death was drug-related.

Mr Johnson was born in Chester in 1983 and died at Warrington Hospital on October 21, 2017.