Detective: ‘Very easy’ to buy drugs in Blackpool

A senior detective has 
admitted it is “very easy” to buy drugs in Blackpool as an inquest heard how a 29-year-old man died following an 
accidental heroin overdose.

Sean Brown’s mum, Julie Massey, told Blackpool Coroner’s Court her son had been the happiest she had seen him for a long time in the days before he was found dead at his home on Rugby Street.

The court heard that Mr Brown’s former partner Liam Wood had found him on the living room sofa just before 2.30am on Sunday, June 15.

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Paramedics were called and attempted to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead at the scene at 2.40am.

The inquest was told that medical records showed Mr Brown had been struggling with drug dependency since 2009. He had gone for a break in Benidorm to get away from the local drug scene and 
returned a different person according to his mum.

“Sean came back from Spain a different boy, he was really healthy,” she said.

“He was really the happiest I had seen him in a long time.”

But Det Insp Lukmaan Mulla, of Blackpool CID, told the court: “You would struggle to buy drugs in a place you don’t know like Benidorm even if you wanted to.

Easy

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“But Blackpool has an open drug market. It’s very easy to buy drugs here and you get different purity levels. An investigation is onging into supply of Class A drugs and how Sean purchased them.”

The court heard after meeting with his mum at a hotel on the night of Saturday, June 14, at about 10.30pm Sean had taken a taxi to an address linked to the supply of Class A drugs and then 
returned home via a shop.

Liam Wood had returned to the house prior to Sean but was asleep upstairs.

Insp Mulla said that when he was found, Sean did not have the appearance of someone who had recently been taking large quantities of 
heroin. But drug paraphernalia was found near his body.

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And a post-mortem 
examination carried out by Dr Sameer Shaktawat at Blackpool Victoria Hospital showed a possible needle puncture wound on Sean’s leg and revealed blood morphine levels of 0.386. Fatalities have been recorded at levels of just 0.05.

Coroner Alan Wilson, said that while Sean had twice tried to commit suicide previously - by throwing himself into the sea and through an overdose of tablets - this had been more than 10 years previously, and he was satisfied he had not intended to take his own life.

Mr Wilson concluded cause of death was heroin toxicity and recorded a verdict of death as a result of misadventure.

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