A York man was found dead in his hotel room more than 24 hours after his frantic mother had tried to raise the alarm.
Andrew Eveleigh, 34, was discovered face down on his bed in his room at the Lake & River Side Hotel in Side, Antalya, Turkey on 7 March.
He had only flown out for a holiday the day before, an inquest heard.
Described as “kind and loveable”, Andrew’s death devastated his friends and family who raised more than £2,000 towards his funeral.
He lived with his mother Elaine in New Earswick. She had to fly out to Turkey to identify her son.
Yesterday (Monday), North Yorkshire assistant coroner Richard Watson conducted an inquest into Andrew’s death at Northallerton.
He read a statement from Elaine, who said Andrew was fine on the day he left for his solo holiday in Turkey on 6 March.
After arriving in Antalya, her son video called her four times, from inside the airport and from the resort.
“He was excited and could not wait to get to his hotel,” Elaine said. “He had lots of things planned for his holiday.”
Andrew had been a long-time drug user, the inquest heard. But Elaine said that during those video calls he didn’t appear to have taken anything, although she knew he had used drugs in days prior to leaving for Turkey.
He planned the holiday as an opportunity to detox: “In his words, he would ‘come back clean’ from his holiday,” she said.
“I know the day he flew he was in a good mood and in a happy place. He was going to keep away and get off the ‘horrible stuff’, and when he got back from Turkey he wanted to have a proper relationship with his girlfriend.”
Never called back
He told her his mother he would video call her again from the hotel so he could show her his room and balcony. But he never made the call.
After about an hour, his worried mother rang the hotel to ask them to check on Andrew, but got no answer. She kept messaging the hotel until 3am the following morning, but failed to get through.
She finally spoke to someone at the hotel at about 10am the following morning. “I explained I had not heard from my son, and it had now been about 24 hours and I was very concerned for his welfare,” she said.
Hotel staff went to his room at about 1pm and found Andrew unresponsive, lying on his bed face down. He was declared dead at 2.30pm.
Police officers who attended said there was no evidence of foul play.
The police told Elaine that CCTV cameras showed that Andrew never left his room after his arrival.
She said: “I feel if someone had gone up when I first got in touch, there could be a chance my son could still be alive.”
Andrew had chronic asthma and was due to have tests for sleep apnea on his return from Turkey. He also took antibiotics because his legs were red and swollen.
York Hospital investigation
The Turkish forensic medicine institute carried out an autopsy, and found he had methadone and heroin in his system, along with several prescription drugs.
When his body was returned to the UK, an autopsy was carried out by Dr Matthew Toy at York Hospital.
Morphine as heroin was present in his system “at levels possibly associated with fatality”. Traces of cocaine were found. Alcohol, diazepam, methadone and pregabalin were also detected.
GP Dr Amy Fairley of MyHealth in York said in statement that Andrew had been under the care of Changing Lives drug and alcohol service, who were responsible for prescribing his methadone.
In a report, Changing Lives said Andrew had been known to drug and alcohol services in York from 2014.
He was given harm reduction advice and was prescribed methadone daily at the time of his death. He had worked on reducing the dosage.
In his conclusion, coroner Mr Watson said: “Sadly, Mr Eveleigh had a long-term drug-related problem.”
He added: “The analysis carried out post mortem indicates a high level of drugs in the body capable of causing his death.”
The medical cause of death was multi-drug toxicity. “The conclusion is that Andrew’s death was drug related,” Mr Watson said.