AN INQUEST into the death of 49-year-old Peter Francis Jones from Holloway in Haverfordwest was held at the Coroner’s Court in Milford Haven on Tuesday (Feb 2).
Acting Coroner’s Officer Gareth Warlow said that Mr Jones had never been married, but had one son.
The deceased had attended Milford Haven Central School and went on to work in electrical shops for the majority of his life. Before he opened his own business – Connect Appliance Repairs in Haverfordwest – in 1995, Mr Jones was a heavy drinker. The opening of his shop however saw his issue with alcohol come to a halt.
As Mr Jones got older, his health deteriorated and problems with his spine meant that he was in and out of hospital and prescribed Morphine.
In the last few months of his life, Mr Jones’ family and friends noticed that his stomach began to swell.
On May 15, 2015, Mr Jones collapsed while in Haverfordwest and was taken to Withybush Hospital. He had consumed a large amount of alcohol, he had vomited and he was unresponsive.
As there were no beds available at Withybush, so Mr Jones was transferred to Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli. He was then transferred back to Withybush some days later.
Discharged on May 22, Mr Jones was told that he would receive a letter to attend an ultra-sound appointment to diagnose the swelling of his stomach. Due to the fact he was unhappy with his treatment, Mr Jones put in a letter of complaint to the hospital.
On May 26, Mr Jones went to see his doctor because he was concerned about his swollen stomach. He was told to change his lifestyle and to wait for the ultra-sound appointment. The doctor also prescribed Mr Jones anti-depressants and gave him pain relief.
That evening, Mr Jones went to bed as normal with his close friend, whom he was staying with. When she woke at 6am, she noticed that Mr Jones’ breathing was raspy, before it became erratic. She checked his pupils to find that they were very small and therefore called the emergency services.
Mr Jones was taken to A&E, where his health deteriorated, and he was pronounced dead at 7.10am on Wednesday, May 27.
Mr Jones’ mother, Margaret Jones, spoke at the inquest. She discussed the fact that she was unhappy that her son arrived at Prince Philip Hospital with no medical papers, so doctors were only able to deal with the situation based on what they were told and what was before them.
Mrs Jones also handed pictures over to the coroner to highlight her son’s swelling.
Daniel Hauser, who conducted a postmortem of Mr Jones’ body on May 28, spoke at the Coroner’s Court.
Mr Hauser said that Mr Jones was “very healthy person for his age.” He said that there were no major concerns while he conducted the external exam and commented that there were no signs of swelling.
He added that there was nothing out of the ordinary inside Mr Jones’ body as his body was in “very good condition” with “no major findings.”
Mr Hauser then read out a toxicology report, which highlighted the presence of Morphine and Diazepam.
He read that the level of morphine was of a concentration which had caused death in past cases and said the combination with Diazepam could have contributed to his death.
He said: “The postmortem revealed no obvious cause of death I would be happy to give as a cause of death, but the statement of the toxicology report reads that the level of Morphine has been associated with fatality. I believe it was the combined effect of drugs which caused his death.”
Coroner Gareth Lewis came to the conclusion that Mr Jones’ death was drug related and stated that while his parents were rightly concerned about his swelling, it did not cause his death.
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