Policeman died from concoction of drugs

Colnbrook: Mix of meth and GHB

A coroner has ruled that the death of a police officer was drug-related.

Waqas Ahmed, 34, of Poyle Road, Colnbrook, was found unresponsive in his one-bedroom flat in the early hours of Saturday, September 15, 2018.

An inquest at Berkshire Coroners Court, Reading, on Wednesday heard that a friend became concerned about Mr Ahmed’s welfare as he had not heard from him in 24 hours.

The friend let himself into his flat and found him lying on his bed at 5.13am. Paramedics arrived shortly afterwards and confirmed his death.

A toxicology report showed that Mr Ahmed had a concoction of methamphetamine and the psychoactive drug GHB in his system.

But the inquest heard there was no physical evidence of Mr Ahmed being a long-term user of either drug.

Alison McCormick, assistant coroner for Berkshire, said: “There was a Thames Valley Police investigation and that found there were no signs of forced entry and no signs of a physical struggle.

“What we don’t know is the circumstances in which Waqas Ahmed came to ingest the substances that were found in his blood at postmortem.”

The inquest also heard there was no evidence that Mr Ahmed had intended to harm himself.

His sister Nasmeen asked the assistant coroner why police had not been able to find her brother’s phone when they arrived at his flat.

She said: “He would never be without his phone and that is something I can’t come to terms with.”

Ms McCormick replied that police had carried out an investigation and it was a ‘mystery’ what happened to the phone.

Delivering her ruling, she said: “I accept the cause of death was GHB and methamphetamine intoxication.

“The mixture of the two can have unpredictable effects.”