Man stuck over five fentaynl patches on his body and took massive overdose after blowing £1,000 in bookies, Bournemouth Coroners’ Court hears

A man took a massive overdose of drugs after blowing £1,000 in the bookies.

Ian Naish (56) had been a gambling addict, but his girlfriend Jeanette Moore believed he had not bet for two years.

However, giving evidence at Bournemouth Coroners’ Court, Ms Moore said the day before her boyfriend died on 9th October last year she realised he had been gambling again.

When Mr Naish returned to her home in Cairns Close, Christchurch, he was “very down”, she said.

He told he had lost the money, and she said he knew “it was very clear that if you gamble you cannot stay at this house”.

Ms Moore said she told him to go to sleep and they would talk later.

When Mr Naish was depressed, he would take tranquilizers he had been prescribed for sleeping and stay in bed until he felt better, the court heard.

Mr Naish had then gone up to the bedroom where she saw him taking tablets. He also stuck on two pain-relieving fentanyl patches.

He was on pain killers after a bike accident a few years before, Ms Moore said, but had been “weaning himself off” the drugs because he wanted to be able to play more with his grandson, whom he doted on.

Ms Moore said: “He wanted to be able to do things with him. He worried the meds slowed him down.”

She said after Mr Naish had consulted with his doctor, the fentanyl patches were reduced in strength from 100mg to 12mg. However, he had then complained that the patches did not work.

Ms Moore said her boyfriend come downstairs where he sat on a sofa in the conservatory and went to sleep. She said she checked him every 30 minutes before going to bed. She said when she left the house at 8.30am the next day he was “snoring his head off”.

His friend Simon Turner, who had been staying in the house, later checked on Mr Naish before going for a walk. He said he seemed to be asleep.

But when he returned after 11am he realised his friend was “non-responsive” and called an ambulance before carrying out CPR. He said he noticed two fentanyl patches on Mr Naish’s chest.

A post-mortem later revealed the deceased had five patches on his right arm and marks of five more on his left. Mr Naish had also taken a large overdose of morphine and methadone.

Giving evidence, both Mr Turner and Ms Moore said they did not believe he had intended to kill himself.

She said: “He was looking forward to so many things. He was the happiest I’d known him in the last couple of years than in the whole time I’d known him. I thought he would go to sleep and then when he woke up, we would sort it out.”

Mr Turner agreed, saying that although Mr Naish had once told him that he had tried to kill himself in 2014 over his gambling addiction, he did not believe he had intended to this time.

Describing him as a “very jolly fellow”, he said that on the day he took the overdose the pair had been togthere and Mr Naish had “popped” into the bookies. Mr Turner said he had been “surprised” as he thought he did not gamble anymore.

Later at home, Mr Naish told him: “I know what’s coming – I’m going to get my head down.” He added: “He was p****d off with himself but there is no way he intended to kill himself.”

Recording a narrative conclusion, senior coroner Rachael Griffin said it was clear that Mr Naish had died after taking an overdose, but in circumstances where his intentions were unclear.