Preston construction worker's tragic overdose after trip to India to quit drugs
A young construction worker who battled a drug addiction was tragically found dead in his bedroom by his mum.
Muhammed Salim Bhayat had gone out in the early evening of Friday May 10 this year. As he left the home his stepdad Muhammed voiced concerns he was going to meet a drug dealer but when the 22-year-old returned home at 7pm he seemed "fine and didn't appear to be under the influence".
However, later that evening, Muhammed came out of his bedroom and was acting paranoid. He kept trying to lock the back door and was later found attempting to lock the bathroom door because he feared someone would break in via the air vent.
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Muhammed's mum Marianne later saw her son asleep in his bedroom but the following morning when she went to check on him he was unresponsive.
"He felt cold and his arms were turning purple," his stepdad later said in a statement. Muhammed's mum and stepdad attempted CPR but he was sadly pronounced dead after paramedics arrived.
Toxicology tests revealed Muhammed had fatal levels of heroin substitute methadone in his system, as well as pregabalin, at the time of his death. He had never been prescribed either.
An inquest held at Preston Coroner's Court heard that Muhammed, who was brother to Rubana and Aishah, had gone to live with family in India for two months in January in a bid to get clean. He had also engaged with substance misuse organisation Inspire and "was keen and willing" to tackle his heroin addiction.
Mark Spedding from Inspire said that pregabalin is "sadly very widely abused". "It's noted in a number of overdoses, non-fatal and fatal," he added.
Concluding that Muhammed's death was drug-related, Area Coroner Kate Bisset said: "The tragedy of this is that most of those drugs he had in his system on their own weren't enough to take his life.
"Methadone was something new to him and this medication was what sadly took his life. Sadly, having done so very well and having taken those positive steps he tragically slipped back into his habit.
"This is a tragic waste of a young life, a man who tried very hard to access the support that changed his life but was sadly unable to put those things behind him."