An inquest has begun today into the death of Alan Hunt
Alan Hunt died at Whiston Hospital on March 14, 2024(Image: Facebook)
A dad collapsed and died after a bag of cocaine is believed to have ruptured inside his stomach. Alan Hunt, 35, was arrested on suspicion of driving and drug offences at the Texaco garage on Warrington Road, Whiston, at around 4am on March 13, 2024.
He was searched by Merseyside Police, and “a number of packages thought to be controlled drugs” were found. He was then taken to Belle Vale Police Station, where he was assessed by healthcare staff and placed in a cell at around 5.30am.
At his inquest in Liverpool today, Monday, January 26, coroner Joseph Hart said: “He was locked in a cell which had CCTV, but there were checks to monitor him set at frequent intervals. The last check that was conducted was at 8.27am. Alan was sat on a bench in the cell. He acknowledged the officer who was doing the checks and was left alone.
“At 8.42am, the custody sergeant noticed on cell CCTV that Alan was sat in an unusual position on the bench. Officers went to the cell, but Alan was unresponsive. He couldn’t be roused, but was intermittently suffering some form of seizure.
“Healthcare staff were called, some medical treatment was administered and an ambulance was called. During this period, handcuffs and leg restraints were applied to Alan by custody staff.
“Before the paramedics arrived, Alan went into cardiac arrest and CPR was administered by custody staff, and was continued by paramedics once they arrived.”
Belle Vale Police Station(Image: )
The dad-of-one, who lived in St Helens, was taken to Whiston Hospital, where he died the following day. A postmortem investigation found his cause of death was multi-organ failure with a hypoxic brain injury (lack of oxygen to the brain) as a result of cardiac arrest, caused by cocaine toxicity.
Mr Hart said: “Having formed the view that there was cocaine toxicity, a review of the CCTV showed that Alan may have swallowed something while he was in his cell.”
Home Office pathologist Dr Jonathan Metcalfe, who examined Alan’s body, told the court he found the remains of two “drug wraps” inside the dad’s stomach. One of these was ruptured, while the other was described as “a piece of solid white material covered in clear plastic wrapping, which was at least partially ruptured”.
Dr Metcalfe said: “Given the CCTV evidence, the toxicology findings, everything together, the finding of clear plastic in the stomach that had tied ends would fit with these being remnants of drug wraps.” A further piece of plastic was found in Alan’s small bowel.
Blood tests taken at 6am on March 13, 2024, shortly after Alan arrived at Belle Vale Police Station, showed the 35-year-old had 0.85mg of cocaine per litre of blood in his system, and 6.8mg of benzoylecgonine, a breakdown of cocaine.
Toxicology tests following his death showed 8.3mg of cocaine – nearly 10 times the level in the custody suite – and 38mg of benzoylecgonine.
Dr Metcalfe said: “This is a very high level of cocaine. And from the toxicologist’s point of view, it’s well within the range reported in fatalities attributed to cocaine toxicity.”
He added: “What is important to remember is the postmortem level was taken 18 hours after the cardiac arrest, so the cocaine levels could have been even higher at that time.”
The inquest jury was told “once the drug wraps ruptured, there was very little that could have been done” to help Alan as the cocaine rapidly entered his bloodstream.
Dr Metcalfe said: “Whether one wrap ruptured initially or both, we’ll never know the sequence. But we know there was a large amount of cocaine in the blood samples, so we know a large amount was released, and that’s with a large amount of benzoylecgonine. There’s no procedure or CPR that would have reversed that.”
The inquest continues.