8:26am Friday 19th March 2010
By Catherine Priestley
A TETRAPLEGIC man took a lethal combination of drugs on his first night out after a car accident left him paralysed, an inquest heard.
Father-of-two Michael Bellas died in the early hours of June 14 last year after taking cocaine and so-called designer drugs the previous night.
The 26-year-old, from Spennymoor, County Durham, had just enjoyed his first full night out in town in a year after becoming disabled when he crashed his car on the A167 near Durham.
An inquest, held at Bishop Auckland Magistrates’ Court yesterday, heard a post mortem examination revealed traces of several prescription and illegal drugs were found in his system.
At the time some of the drugs he took, BZP and TFMPP, were known as legal ecstasy because they had a similar effect on users but were not banned.
Forensic toxicologist Dr Simon Elliott said that BZP and TFMPP appeared in Europe about a decade ago and came to the UK in 2007 or 2008, and were only criminalised late last year.
Small amounts of cocaine, cannabis and alcohol were also detected along with prescription drugs including diazepam.
Pathologist Dr Tony Senadhira said the cause of Mr Bellas’ death was toxicity induced by the combination of drugs, notably diazepam and recreational drugs.
Recording a verdict of death due to drugs abuse, Coroner Andrew Tweddle said it was the combination of drugs in Mr Bellas’ system that caused his death.
He said: “Drugs like these so-called designer drugs, legal at the time but that have now become illegal, clearly have dangers.
“The fact they were not illegal at the time doesn’t mean that they’re safe.”
Mr Bellas’ friends, Mark Helliwell and James Armstrong, had been with him shortly before he died and exercised their right not to answer any potentially incriminating questions yesterday.
Detective Constable Lee Fishburn said that police had concluded their investigation and a file has been sent to the CPS to consider whether any further action is appropriate.
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