Devoted Hordle dad Patrick Lismore took fatal ecstasy overdose while at home with four-year-old son

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy led a worried neighbour to the body of his father who had been dead for hours after a huge overdose of the drug ecstasy, an inquest heard.

Patrick Lismore (36) was found in the hallway of his home in Hordle after the crying of his son Finley raised the alarm.

The father and son had been at home together in February 2020 while Mr Lismore’s wife, Danae, went away with friends for a birthday weekend in Brighton, Winchester Coroners’ Court was told.

Mrs Lismore described how the “devoted father” had sent updates about Finley during the day, including a photo of them enjoying a bedtime cookie.

But sometime after that, the inquest heard, Mr Lismore, described by his tearful wife as “a very kind and caring man”, took a huge overdose of MDMA – also known as ecstasy – which killed him.

The tragedy was discovered by neighbour Jacob Anderstone, who lived next door to the Lismores in Sheldrake Gardens. He had heard the family’s dog barking in the garden in torrential rain on 2nd February at around 1am.

In a statement he said he knocked on the door twice with no reply, and when he called the police they said there was nothing they could do.

But at around 7.30am he heard the dog “going nuts” and went into the back garden of the Lismore’s home where he could hear a little boy crying.

The child opened the door when he knocked again, Mr Anderstone said, adding: “He just looked at me and walked back into the living room.”

Inside, Mr Anderstone discovered Mr Lismore lying dead on the floor of the hallway with one pillow under his head and another over his face.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Lismore, who ran successful cryptocurrency and blockchain companies, had taken a fatal amount of MDMA.

Mrs Lismore said she knew her husband occasionally used cannabis when stressed, but to her knowledge had not taken MDMA since he was a youth.

The couple had known each other for eight years and been married for four. They had met in Ireland in 2012 and had been “pretty inseparable ever since”.

She said on 1st February Patrick had been in “flying form” working on a project online and had plans for the next day. She said she had “no worries at all” about leaving Finley with his dad.

She said her husband had been ‘very proud of what we had achieved with the house and the car. He had a very, very clever brain.”

The inquest heard he had two degrees and was working towards a master’s.

She said of the overdose: “It was so out of character I must admit I was so angry when I found out. It wasn’t what he was about.

“In my heart of hearts I know Patrick did not intend to go anywhere. I think he would be devastated by this, at having left us.”

Mrs Lismore said she had no idea where her husband had got the drug from.

Ruling Mr Lismore’s death was through misuse of drugs, area coroner Jason Pegg said the MDMA had been taken in “very strange circumstances”, adding: “To use it when babysitting is very unusual, when he was looking after a young child and on his own. He was a devoted father.”

Mr Pegg speculated that Mr Lismore’s cannabis dealer may have suggested he try the MDMA, but he added: “These are answers we may never get.”