"Lovely" man dies after lethal painkiller dose

Thursday 22 June 2017

A “kind” man who was discovered dead on the floor of his lounge by his ex-partner was found to have 21 times the toxic limit of heavy duty painkiller tramadol in his blood, an inquest has heard.

Roger Terrence Beckford (65) died suddenly in his home in the early days of January 2017 - just days after speaking with his neighbour, an ex-partner of 13 years.

An inquest was subsequently opened to ascertain the exact cause of death, which was yesterday revealed to be the result of, “…respiratory depression due to the combined effects of tramadol and alcohol intoxication.”

Coroner Mark Harris heard that Mr Beckford had been prescribed the fatal painkiller in 2011 after suffering abdominal pain due to “an extensive amount” of previous surgery.

While tramadol can be “toxic” at over 1mg/l and “potentially lethal” at 2mg/l, the concentration in the St Lawrence resident’s blood was found to be more than ten times this upper limit, despite the fact that he was only supposed to take, “…one tablet twice daily.”

Despite the exceptionally high tramadol blood levels, Advocate Harris highlighted that the reading was, “…not as clear cut as it may seem”, with some of the drug potentially being reabsorbed back into his bloodstream after death.

Pictured: Morier House, where the inquest took place.

The fatal dose may have equally been a consequence of his intoxication at the time, with Mr Beckford over the drink driving limit at the time of his death and possibly unaware of the consequences of his actions. There was no suggestion that it had been deliberate, with no empty pill packets found at the scene - on the contrary, nearly three months’ worth of unopened tramadol packets and around 800 paracetamol tablets were found in his home, while an apparently dropped TV remote control found by his body suggested that, “…whatever happened, happened without warning.”

According to his former partner, Mr Beckford sometimes drank alcohol at the same time as taking his medication. 

“I used to go mad at him but it was hard to get through to him… He didn’t see anything wrong with it,” she said.

The afternoon she found Mr Beckford, who had may have already been dead for some days by then, she recalled seeing half a bottle of whiskey on the coffee table and an empty glass next to his usual seat in the lounge.

In a statement, she fondly remembered him as someone who, “…had his foibles, but was a nice man.” She told the Inquest of how the “lovely” islander would often knock on her door to ask what she wanted for dinner, and reminisced about how he had, “…boxes and boxes of all different flavours” of Oxo cubes on his kitchen shelves.

Concluding, Mark Harris thanked medical experts, the Police and Mr Beckford’s family for their contributions to the investigation, emphasising, “...how very sorry I am for your loss.”