Coroner urges fresh drug death inquiry

(First Edition)

POLICE are to be asked to reopen investigations into a man's drug-related death after an inquest was adjourned amid suggestions of manslaughter.

The development followed a claim by a friend of Wayne Calder, 23, that he had injected himself with the heroin substitute methadone, given to him by a former nurse.

Westminster Coroner's Court was told yesterday the claim came to light when Mr Calder's mother, Sandra, spoke to a woman who had been drinking with him the night before he died. When she asked Amanda Fenwick where he got the drug, she said a former nurse, Maria Richardson, gave it to him.

Mr Calder, Ms Fenwick and Ms Richardson were all living in social security accommodation in Bayswater, west London, the inquest was told.

The coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, said Ms Richardson had failed to tell police that she had given Mr Calder methadone. 'If a person gives to another a poison or dangerous substance recklessly, that could be considered to be manslaughter under certain circumstances,' he said.

The inquest was adjourned.