Latest news with #drugmisuse
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Father-of-two, 31, died two days after his second child was born as he started 'neglecting himself', inquest hears
A much-loved father died just two days after welcoming his second child into the world, an inquest heard. Tom Floyd - known to friends and family as Tommo - was found dead at his flat in Darwen on the evening of Wednesday March 5 this year. The alarm had been raised by a neighbour who had been unable to get into the flat to check on Tom's dog. He had been 'neglecting himself' and so neighbour Michael Wareing had been checking in on his dog. Tom, who was born in Blackburn, had welcomed his second child just two days before his death. His funeral had been 'packed out' with the 31-year-old's sister Lisa remembering him as 'mischievous' and 'full of fun'. An inquest into Tom's death, held on Monday (July 7), heard that he had been struggling with drug and alcohol misuse. When Michael couldn't get his key into the lock of Tom's flat he called Tom's friend Luke Pearson who climbed in through an open window and found him dead inside. In a statement Michael, who had last messaged Tom asking if he 'wanted any weed', told police: 'I last spoke to Tom on the evening of March 4; everything was fine. 'Tom was very skinny and looked like he had lost even more weight. He had recently lost his job around the time of his birthday. He did seem ok in himself though and there was nothing unusual. Tom's friend Luke told police: 'Tom was safe and well and there was nothing out of the ordinary. 'He couldn't really look after himself proper and had bad habits and a poor way of life and neglected himself. 'He didn't have any health issues but I was aware he took drugs and alcohol.. He did this mainly on pay day - weed and cocaine. 'On the evening of March 5 I received a call from Tom's neighbour Michael who was meant to be looking after the dog. He said his key wouldn't go in the hole. 'At around 8pm I got back but couldn't get the key in the door. I had to climb in through the kitchen window. I had to pull it open to get in. I went into the front room and saw Tom lying on the sofa. 'I went over to him and his body was cold. I tried to wake him up but he wouldn't wake.' When police arrived they noticed 'a few empty snap bags and a half-smoked joint in an ashtray'. There was also a bottle of whisky on the table which Tom's sister Lisa, and her husband Ryan, both said was 'unusual because he hated the stuff'. During the inquest Lisa and Ryan raised concerns that Tom's friend Luke had been with him when he died. Lisa also saw what she believed were 'finger marks' on her brother's neck but police found no evidence of criminality or suspicious circumstances and a post mortem concluded Tom had not been the victim of an assault. Toxicology tests revealed that Tom had taken cocaine and cannabis in the hours before he died. The inquest heard that cocaine can cause heart problems and in the months prior to his death Tom had complained of chest pains and palpitations. Returning a conclusion of a drug-related death, Assistant Coroner Laura Fox said: 'Thomas Francis Floyd died on march 5, 2025, at Leven Grove, Darwen. 'Mr Floyd died as a results of the effects of drug toxicity.'
BBC News
17-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
HMP Lowdham Grange branded 'unsafe' by inspectors
A prison where 10 inmates died in custody in a 19-month period has critical and ongoing failures in safety, inspectors have Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) visited HMP Lowdham Grange, in Nottinghamshire, between 3 and 14 March and found a rise in violent incidents and a high number of medical emergencies linked to a report released on Tuesday, inspectors said since the last inspection in August 2023 there had been 10 deaths in custody, four of which were suspected of being due to drug Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which took over running the prison from a private provider in December 2023 has been approached for comment. In the most recent visit, inspectors found the number of use of force incidents had trebled, violent incidents had increased, and the rate of self-harm was the third highest among the country's category B training prisons. They said compounding this was the ingress of illicit drugs, with 56% of prisoners surveyed saying it was easy to get hold of them, and 40.6% testing positive in random drug tests in the 10 months report stated that although a high number of medical emergencies were linked to drugs, health services were no longer providing round-the-clock care, were not meeting the needs of patients, and in some cases were unsafe. 'Fragile' improvements HMIP said the prison's response to recommendations made by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman was also inadequate and not all incidents of self-harm were recorded. Prisoners said there was inconsistency in the regime and prison systems, difficulty maintaining family ties and an inability to see health professionals were some of the triggers for December 2023, the government took over the running of the prison from a private provider before making the move permanent last said since the decision some improvements had been made but they were recent and fragile, and there were many longstanding concerns. It said 39% of prisoners surveyed said their experience in the jail would reduce their likelihood of re-offending, compared to 57% at the last inspection. Ultimately, the prison was failing to deliver its purpose as a training prison, it said. 'Healthcare overwhelmed' Inspection team leader Hindpal Bhui said: "The prison has had a number of problems over many years, and many of those have become worse by the time of this visit."A couple of years ago the contractor changed and this was mismanaged. The new contractor clearly didn't have enough staff to provide a safe prison."When we arrived the prison wasn't safe. There was a large amount of drugs getting into the establishment, leading to tragic cases of deaths in custody."We gave Lowdham Grange the worst possible scores on safety, respect and Bhui added: "It is a prison with high violence, lots of drugs getting in, lots of self-harm, and a healthcare service which is overwhelmed and unable to deal with the consequences of all those factors and that leads to fundamentally a dangerous prison."HM chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, added: "Although there were many challenges at Lowdham Grange, the new governor had established an understanding of the key issues that needed to be addressed, and inspectors left with some hope that the chaos seen at recent visits had started to subside."
