A ‘COCKTAIL’ of drugs lead to the death of a 22-year-old man, an inquest has heard, which lead to a conclusion of misadventure.
Jeremy Pendragon had a mixture of cocaine, diazepam, ecstasy and levamisole in his body when he died swimming in the River Teifi on July 6.
A friend, Carl Williams, said he had taken cocaine with Mr Pendragon the night before his death, but he was unsure how the other drugs entered his system. He could also not account for his movements after that night leading up to his death.
Mr Pendragon was swimming in the River Teifi with friends and his girlfriend after consuming rum and beer.
Mr Williams said he could see Mr Pendragon ‘struggling’ when he attempted to return to the riverbank.
Another friend said they saw him grab on to a tree branch.
Mr Pendragon’s friends tried to rescue him, the inquest heard, but he was ‘struggling’ hard and began to take them down with him.
The official cause of his death was drowning.
Coroner Peter Brunton said: “If lessons could be drawn up from this case, then to mix alcohol and illegal drugs is a recipe for disaster.
“It was not surprising that Mr Pendragon had got into difficulty with those in the blood.
“One of the characteristics outlined by the pathologist in her report is that cocaine is a stimulant.
“It may be that Mr Pendragon could swim well, or thought he could swim well.
“But the net result of the combination of drugs is he was unable to save himself and he also caused considerable risk to three of his friends.”
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