Heroin addiction led to man's death (From Messenger Newspapers)

Heroin addiction led to man's death

11:20am Thursday 6th August 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

A VERDICT of misadventure was recorded after a Timperley man died of a heroin overdose.

On Tuesday, Stockport Magistrates’ Court heard how Mark Hedger was found dead, aged 40, at his flat in Hartford Gardens on April 13.

His adoptive father, Anthony Hedger, confirmed Mark, who never married or had children, was born in Darlington and adopted when he was six-weeks-old.

Mr Hedger described his son as generous, mild-mannered and loyal to his friends but said that as a teenager he was easily led, which led to serious ramifications later in life.

Mark attended Loreto Sixth Form College after getting five O-levels and showing a talent for maths and cross country running. It was there that he started to dabble with drugs, often with his friends’ encouragement.

Mr Hedger said: “He went from being a good student to failing his second year exams. This was entirely down to his drug habit.

“By the age of 19 his addiction had really set in. It got worse after he tried to contact his natural mother and she refused to see him. He was very unsettled by that, it was very hurtful for him.”

Despite his parents’ efforts Mark, who was diagnosed with epilepsy and hepatitis C, became more aggressive and attacked his father in 1995. Mr Hedger took the decision to have no contact with Mark until he was clean of drugs. He never saw him again.

Dr Shah, of Grove Medical Practice, Timperley, said Mark, who had one older sister and three younger brothers, suffered from alcohol addiction, drug dependency and depression.

He said: “Mark started taking drugs aged 14 and began abusing heroin at 18. He was under the care of Trafford community drugs team from 1991 until his death. He was prescribed diazepam and methadone.”

Consultant psychiatrist Mr Nadeem said that Mark suffered from agoraphobia after being teased by children on his estate and that by September 2006 he was drinking five litres of cider a day. In March 2007 a close friend of Mark’s died and he had difficulty coming to terms with that.

By April 2007 he was injecting a quarter to a gram of heroin on a daily basis.

In January 2009 Mark was self-harming and contemplating suicide and in March his epilepsy got worse. Just days before his death Mark failed to attend an appointment at his clinic.

When Mark’s body was found on April 15 police found a quantity of used hyperdermic needles and prescription drugs.

Police ruled out any third party involvment in Mark’s death.

An autopsy revealed fatal levels of heroin and that Mark had cirrhosis of the liver.

In summing up Trafford’s coroner, John Pollard, said: “I accept the cause of death was the shutting down of the nervous system due to the combined effects of Heroin and valproic acid, used to treat epilepsy.

“With illicit drugs no one knows quite how strong they are, even an experienced drug user.

“I don’t think Mark intended to take his own life, it was because of his addiction.”

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)