A MAN from Rhyl had consumed a number of drugs in the lead-up to his death, an inquest concluded.

Gary Paul Swann died aged 57 at his home address on April 27, 2023.

Following a full inquest into his death, held in Ruthin today (February 27), Kate Robertson, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, recorded a conclusion of a drug-related death.

Mr Swann’s medical cause of death was noted as bronchopneumonia, with a background of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and multiple drug use.

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The inquest heard that Mr Swann, born in St Asaph and unemployed and divorced at the time of his death, had moved to Rhyl several weeks prior.

Wayne Evans, a friend, said they had both taken cocaine at his home address the night before he died, and that Mr Swann had also obtained diazepam that evening.

But he left his address with Mr Swann “conscious and breathing, and not complaining of being in any pain”.

The following morning, Mr Evans returned to Mr Swann’s home to him unresponsive and not breathing, but with no visible injuries.

Mr Evans rolled Mr Swann on to his back and began chest compressions until paramedics arrived at the scene to take over.

He said he believed Mr Swann “may have overdosed”, but did not feel he had done so deliberately.

A statement from Mr Swann’s general practitioner told of how he had lived a “chaotic lifestyle”, with a history of drug and alcohol dependence and substance misuse.

Dr Muhammad Zain Mehdi, in undertaking Mr Swann’s post-mortem examination, detected cannabis and metabolites of cocaine from samples taken of his blood and urine.

But, Dr Mehdi said, it was not possible to conclude from these whether cocaine use had caused Mr Swann’s death, or when he had last taken cannabis.

Concluding, Mrs Robertson said that there was “no evidence before me at all that there was any intention upon Gary to end his life at that time”.

She found that his drug use, combined with the effects of his pre-existing health conditions, “sadly proved too much for him”.

Carol Snowdon, Mr Swann’s mother, described him as “always a good son” who was “never a nuisance”.

Mr Swann, whose death “came as a shock”, is “missed so much by me and all of his friends”, she added.