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Ramsgate man Samuel Crow found dead in Addington Street flat by his grandfather

18:00, 22 May 2019

updated: 18:56, 22 May 2019

A drug user who had been battling addiction since he was a child was found dead in his flat by his grandfather, an inquest heard.

Samuel Crow was discovered curled up lying on the floor of his bedroom at home in Ramsgate earlier this year.

An inquest into Mr Crow's death heard he there was a concoction of different substances including morphine and cocaine in his body at the time of his death.

Mr Crow's body was found by his grandfather at his flat in Addington Street in Ramsgate. Picture: Google (10902571)
Mr Crow's body was found by his grandfather at his flat in Addington Street in Ramsgate. Picture: Google (10902571)

The 27-year-old also had high levels of alcohol in his bloodstream which were above the legal drink drive limit, the hearing at Canterbury Magistrates' Court heard today.

The court was told how unemployed Mr Crow had first started smoking cannabis when he was 10-years-old, taking cocaine for the first time aged 13 and injecting heroin when he was 14.

A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Crow suffered multi organ failure to his heart, lungs, liver and brain and ruled out natural causes.

Ian Walker, Mr Crow's grandfather, called in to see his grandson at around 11am on Friday, February 15 after growing concerned about not hearing from him for two days.

He phoned for an ambulance after discovering Mr Crow lying motionless on the floor.

Mr Walker told the inquest: "I saw Sam sitting on the floor in his bedroom in the doorway.

"We'd been round on other occasions before and he would be lying down and because he was in such a deep sleep from the drugs.

Canterbury Magistrates' Court (10452280)
Canterbury Magistrates' Court (10452280)

"We thought that this was the same thing and I touched his arm and said 'come on wake up'."

A police report said Mr Walker told officers at the time he felt cold and was stiff.

Detectives ruled out third party involvement after finding no evidence of any injuries to Mr Crow's head and body.

In a written statement to the hearing read out by coroner Ian Goldup, PC Jason Wright said Mr Crow was found lying "very close to needles which would indicate recent drug use".

A report from Dr Michael Pick, of the East Cliff Practice, said he had last seen his patient in September 2018 where he was referred to an ADHD referral unit.

But the GP said the practice was told the referral was rejected because of Mr Crow's history of drug use.

Mr Crow had been engaging with doctors and staff at the Forward Trust, the east Kent drug and alcohol service, by requesting appointments and calling up to inform them he had missed picking up prescriptions.

The inquest heard he had been making attempts to tackle his drug addiction but regularly relapsed and had visited hospital on several occasions after suffering a series of abscesses to his legs.

Mr Goldrup recorded Mr Crow's death as drug related saying he was satisfied there were no signs he had wanted to take his own life and that he had died of multi drug toxicity.

Find help about drug and alcohol addiction via Kent County Council's website

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