A mum found out her son was dead two days after the tragedy when his friend sent her a text asking 'when's the funeral?' An inquest heard Greater Manchester Police officers had failed to visit her and inform her of his death.
Police were called to a flat in West Cliff in Preston on the morning of November 1 last year after Robert Lee Wareing was found dead by two of his friends. He had spent the night before drinking with the two other men but when they tried to wake him the following morning they realised he had died in his sleep.
An inquest at Preston Coroner's Court today (April 26) heard that 23-year-old Robert had taken a number of drugs in the hours leading up to his death, including cocaine and heroin, as well as being 'profoundly intoxicated' through drink. The combination of the drugs and alcohol caused his respiratory system to shut down, Lancs Live reports.
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Detective Inspector Chris Wellard, from Preston Police, confirmed an investigation was launched after Robert was found dead but which concluded there was no evidence of third-party involvement. As part of the investigation detectives spoke to the two men Robert had been with, Ernie Cottam and Rollo Seagal, who both gave similar accounts of what happened during the night.
"We got an immediate account from Ernie Cottam and a fairly garbled account from Mr Seagal, who was in drink. They both said Robert had come to the address, which is effectively a bedsit, in the early hours of the morning with Rollo," DI Wellard said.
Both men told police that Robert, who was born in Wigan, had gone to sleep at around 5am. He was snoring loudly for around an hour but then stopped and at around 9.30am the two men could hear Robert's breathing had become laboured. They tried to wake him but noticed he was blue and not breathing.
Post mortem toxicology tests revealed Robert had fatal levels of pregabalin in his system as well as heroin and cocaine. In a report, a toxicologist said that simultaneously taking heroin and cocaine increases the risk of death because concomitant use can enhance their sedative effects.
During the inquest, DI Wellard apologised to Robert's mum for the way she found out Robert had died and explained that after staff at the unit in Bow Lane where he lived had identified Robert he had requested an officer from Greater Manchester Police visit her at her home in the Greater Manchester area. However, they had still not done so two days after his death, when staff from the unit sent his mum a message expressing their condolences, believing she would have been informed by the police by that point.
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"I can only apologise wholeheartedly for the way you found out about the death, it was my intention for you to be visited by an officer, but unfortunately Greater Manchester Police didn't visit," DI Wellard said. "It's not appropriate to ring someone up and tell someone of their son's death, which is why we asked GMP to find an address and inform you in person. I can only apologise; I was shocked when I heard."
Robert's mum thanked the detective for the apology and said: "I was at work and got a text 'so sorry to hear about Robert'. I came out of work to a missed call and text 'so sorry can you let me know when the funeral is' so for two days I had gone to work, lived my life, and my son was dead."
Returning a conclusion that Robert's death was drug and alcohol-related, Area Coroner Chris Long concluded it was the combination of alcohol and drugs which 'proved to be fatal'. He added: "Robert Lee Wareing was found deceased on November 1, 2021, at Flat 5, 27 West Cliff, Preston. Mr Wareing was discovered unresponsive. Toxicological testing revealed ethanol consistent with profound intoxication together with a number of illicit drugs which, in combination, resulted in Mr Wareing's death."
