Homeless man died from drug poisoning before fire, inquest hears

A 25-YEAR-OLD homeless man, whose badly burned body was discovered in a fire at a derelict house in Dublin, was dead from drug poisoning before the blaze erupted, an inquest heard yesterday.

Firefighters discovered the body of Patrick Leddy, of Shangan Green in Dublin’s Ballymun, in the doorway of the front room of a burning house at Dorset Lane on November 10 last year.

Relatives of Mr Leddy believed he had burned to death but State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy yesterday revealed he was already dead before the fire.

She found he had died of bronchial pneumonia, with methadone and a sedative toxicity.

His sister, Philomena, told the Dublin City Coroner’s Court Patrick had problems with drugs, including heroin and alcohol, during his lifetime.

She said: “I had to remove him from the family home as a last-ditch effort to try and save him really.”

Another homeless man, Patrick Fay, who had come to know the man in the last few months of his life, said the two had shared some pizza in the house on the evening of November 10 shortly before the fire.

“He set fire to four or five bags of old clothes to warm himself. They were in a fire grate,” Mr Fay said.

“I fell asleep for a moment and when I woke up the place was full of smoke, and there was flames.”

Inspector Anthony Gallagher of Mountjoy Garda Station, who said there was nothing suspicious in the death, added: “It was a derelict house. The premises had been the subject of a fire some time in the past. It was a boarded up premises.”

Sgt Padraic Moran, a scenes examiner, said: “There had been a fire supposedly twice there in the past so it was hard to determine (the origins of the fire). We would be of the opinion it was inside, close enough to the hearth, as the witness said.”

In her autopsy report, Prof Cassidy said there were extensive burns on the body, which was identified by dental records.

However, she found there were few particles of soot in the airways and little carbon monoxide in the blood.

Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said: “Dr Cassidy felt that he may have been already unconscious as a result of the methadone intoxication.”

Dr Farrell, who passed a verdict of death by misadventure, said there was evidence of aspiration of vomit which would have meant he was unconscious at the time.

“Although he was burned he had already died from methadone toxicity.”

Philomena said: “We had spoken to Patrick about a month before the accident.

“He has had sinus problems, and chest problems. His health was very bad at home but when he had to be removed from the house, the outdoors condition accelerated any problems he had.”

His sister said he was highly addicted to heroin in the years before his death but had managed to stay away from the drug for six years.

“This is the first time I have heard in a long time that he had took anything resembling heroin,” she said.