Father seeking investigation into son's death

THE father of recovering heroin addict Derek Cooper, who was found dead in a toilet of a hostel above an Amsterdam Irish pub with morphine in his pocket and a syringe beside him, says there was blood on his clothes and all over the cubicle.

The Amsterdam police rule out murder and claim the 25-year-old died of an overdose upstairs from Durty Nellies, one of the city's most famous and popular Irish pubs. His father Brian however believes the death was suspicious but that there was no investigation.

"There was no postmortem, no blood tests, simply no investigation," said the Galway-based father.

"The Dutch authorities assumed it was an overdose and did not preserve the scene."

The body was returned to Ireland earlier this week and the Dublin County Coroner's office notified. A postmortem was ordered and carried out by State pathologist Marie Cassidy at Tallaght Hospital on Wednesday.

"After the postmortem I heard there were signs of strangulation, marks around the neck that would lead them to believe he was strangled," said Mr Cooper, from Oranmore.

Derek had €400 in his pocket when he left Ireland but when his body was found 24 hours later, there was just €9 left.

"In my eyes he did not die of an overdose," said Mr Cooper.

Toxicology tests were carried out last night in an attempt to establish a definite cause of death. A garda spokesman said: "Gardaí in Tallaght are assisting Dutch police in their investigation into the death.

"The cause of death has not yet been established and further tests are ongoing. No murder investigation has been launched at this stage as cause of death is not established."

Dutch police spokesman Rob van der Veen said speculation the man had been strangled or murdered was unfounded.

"The body had an injection mark on the inner thigh and a syringe was found lying nearby.

"It was not a natural death, but both police investigators and the coroner assume this was an overdose."

Derek Cooper, who grew up in Swords, north Co Dublin, arrived in Amsterdam Monday a week ago, the day of his death. He was looking forward to starting a new job as a spray finisher.

His father met him for a few beers on the previous night. He was not happy his son, who had been working hard for the last two years to wean himself off heroin, was going to a city such as Amsterdam.

But that's what he wanted to do, said his father. He talked about getting an apartment and bringing over his girlfriend.

It was a new start for a young man who appeared to have worked hard to fight his four-year addiction to the deadly narcotic. He began a methadone programme two years ago after being threatened with jail for offences committed to feed his habit.

Derek arrived at Central Station in Amsterdam an hour after flying in at 6.20pm on Monday October 4.

He was last seen after checking into the hostel above the pub. The 46 bed €20 a night hostel, popular with budget travellers, is on Warmoesstraat, a five minute walk from the station. It's in the red light district notorious for its hard drugs peddlers who patrol the laneways.

Derek is said to have left the hostel shortly after checking in.

He was not seen again and hostel staff assumed he had checked out the next morning as his locker was empty.

At around 8.30pm on October 5 his body was found in the locked toilet. Staff were called to open the door with a screw driver following complaints from a guest it had been permanently engaged.

Management at the pub, while expressing sympathy for the family of the dead man, directed all questions to the Dutch police.

While the Dutch police insist the death was not suspicious, a spokesman said it would reopen the case if the gardaí send an official report to the contrary. It may be some days before the results of the toxicology tests, on a man who has been dead for 10 days, are known.

Mr Cooper, whose family are "in bits" over the death, said: "It's a very strange situation.

"There has to be a full investigation between the Amsterdam and Dublin police."