"They just posted it to him... nobody had any idea": Mum's heartbreaking warning as police probe whether man, 21, died after taking super-strength drug

A heartbroken mum has issued a warning amid fears her son died after taking a super-strength drug.

Harry Durose, 21, was found dead at his supported accommodation in Hyde, Tameside, on March 3. Drugs containing nitazenes - an illegal substance that has been linked to dozens of deaths across the UK in recent months - were also discovered inside the address.

Greater Manchester Police is investigating whether Harry's death was linked to the deadly synthetic opioid, the M.E.N. understands. Officers are currently awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination that will determine whether he had taken drugs containing nitazenes, and if it was responsible for his death.

READ MORE: Police issue CCTV appeal after robbery in Manchester city centre

If confirmed, it would make Harry the first person in Greater Manchester whose death has been linked to nitazene - a substance that can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin.

Harry's mother, Amy Durose, said she believed her son had unknowingly taken the drug after buying a substance - which he believed to be diazepam - on the black market.

Harry had previously been prescribed diazepam to treat a chronic condition called hypermobility - a condition in which joints are abnormally flexible, causing pain and stiffness - which he had suffered from throughout his life, she said.

"It was terrible," said Ms Durose. "It really hindered his life, he was in such pain. They prescribed him diazepam which helped him calm down and helped him sleep."

After being told his prescription was to end, Ms Durose says Harry - who had autism and learning difficulties - was 'distraught and upset'. She says she has since learned that Harry told friends he had purchased drugs advertised as diazepam online.

Ms Durose said she believed her son would not have bought the drugs if he had known that they contained nitazene. It's thought that many users take the opioid unknowingly as it used to cut other drugs by dealers.

"They just posted it to him and nobody had any idea," said Ms Durose. "I just wish he had told me. He was very clued up on prescription drugs. If he had known these nitazenes existed, he would not have risked it.

"Harry was not a drug addict, he was not going buying drugs on the streets. All he was trying to do was replace his prescription.

"I don't want people to think that he was a druggy, that's not what my boy was. He didn't even drink."

Harry, a keen gamer who had studied computer science at college and had dreams of working in the industry, had only moved out of the family home in Denton weeks before his death.

In an emotional tribute to her son, who she described him as her 'best friend', Mr Durose said: "He was such a lovely, caring boy.

"He was so protective of me I'm heartbroken. I used to get 200 messages a day off him. He was my best friend. It was hard at times, but my house - I used to love living here - but now it's so quiet."

Following the discovery of drugs inside Harry's flat, officers raided an industrial unit in Tay Road, Birmingham, last week. Ten kgs of suspected drugs were seized from the address.

A 34-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs.

Last month, the government classified 15 types of nitazenes as Class A drugs, with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs warning they are highly addictive and pose a greater risk of overdose.

The M.E.N. recently revealed that experts in Greater Manchester are bracing themselves for the arrival of the drug, which has been linked to more than 100 deaths across the UK since last summer.

Issuing a warning to others about the dangers of nitazenes, Ms Durose said: "Anybody that is thinking of buying drugs, prescription or not from anywhere other than your doctor, don't do it.

"When you look online, everything about this drug is heroin. It's not just heroin. Nobody has any idea that this stuff is in other drugs and not just heroin.

"It can be in anything, it's terrifying. Harry was anti-drug but he was very dependent on his prescription medication. When the doctor stopped him having it, he panicked and bought it online."

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "At this time, we are awaiting full post mortem results and therefore are not in a position to confirm the cause of death."

Nitazene was first developed in the 1950s, but never approved for sale. Its re-emergence has been put down to China's crackdown on fentanyl, a synthetic opioid estimated to have caused 75,000 deaths in the US in 2022, and problems with heroin supplies caused by the Taliban's ban on harvesting opium poppies in Afghanistan.

In December, it was reported that 30 overdose fatalities in Birmingham were being examined for the involvement of nitazenes and the sedative xylazine, after a coroner concluded nitazenes were the primary cause of death of two drug addicts in one night at a hostel in the city. And last month, a warning was issued in East Lancashire after nitazene was found there.

While it's mainly being mixed with heroin, it's also been found in samples of illegal diazepam and in February the drug was also found in oxycodone tablets in Chapel-en-le-Frith and Whaley Bridge in the nearby Peak District.