Family tells coroner of suspicions following drugs death in Great Shefford

THE family of man who died of a drug overdose has told a coroner: “We believe there’s something fishy going on.”

All three people involved in the tragedy at the home in Great Shefford refused to engage with the victim’s family, raising their suspicions, an inquest held in Reading Town Hall on Monday, November 18, heard.

It was the second death of a man in his 30s at the premises within weeks, the hearing was told.

But Berkshire coroner Heidi Connor warned the family of the deceased, Charles Creed, against making “unsubstantiated allegations” and pointed out that police had concluded there were no suspicious circumstances in either case.

The inquest heard that 30-year-old Mr Creed had traveled from Olney, Buckinghamshire, to the home of Holly Few in The Mead, Great Shefford, for the funeral of her late partner, Tom, on Friday, October 13 last year.

Following the service at Thatcham Crematorium, the funeral party went to The Swan pub in Thatcham, where Mr Creed was acting strangely and dozing off.

Back at Ms Few’s home, he was helped to bed while Ms Few and her friend, Wilson Turney, went to The Red Lion Hotel in Basingstoke.

A neighbour, Christine Howard, had arranged to check in on the dogs and on Mr Creed, and did so occasionally through the night.

She said in a statement that Mr Creed was snoring but that his airway was not obstructed.

Next morning, however, she was unable to rouse him and called Ms Few who, the inquest heard, told her to call an ambulance.

Ms Howard tried to resuscitate Mr Creed but he remained unresponsive and medics later pronounced him dead at the scene.

Post mortem tests revealed a potentially lethal amount of morphine in his system along with metabolites of cocaine and cannabis, various prescription drugs plus the prescribed sedative pregabalin and the benzodiazepene diazepam, or valium, to which he was addicted.

Ms Connor said: “I know the family is concerned as to how he came to have [some of] these drugs in his system and whether he was held down or forced to take drugs.

“But there’s no evidence to back that suggestion.”

Mr Creed’s father, Mike, told Ms Connor: “There are a number of anomalies here we don’t understand, things that we’re worried about.

“We were told there was some sort of fighting that went on.”

The family was also concerned about purple marks around Mr Creed’s neck, the inquest heard.

Mr Creed senior added: “We think death happened on the 13th, not the 14th, and on that day he was with Wilson Turney.

“None of the people involved will talk to us and this is strange to us.

“Of all three, not one of them.”

He said a bottle or liquid morphine had been found at the scene and queried where it had come from.

Mr Creed senior also said he found it strange that two relatively young men – Ms Few’s partner, Tom, and his own son, Charles – had died in the home within weeks of each other.

Ms Connor acknowledged the family’s frustration but said the death of Ms Few’s partner had been deemed unsuspicious and said of Mr Creed: “There are no injuries and no accounts from anyone that he has been forced to take any drugs.

“Be careful of making unsubstantiated allegations.”

Mr Creed said the family had made a formal complaint about the Thames Valley Police probe and added: “We believe there’s something fishy going on.

“We believe there’s more to come.”

Ms Connor said: “It seems to me the family’s concerns come from a place of love for Charlie.

“It perhaps started when they felt the communication [from police] wasn’t good at the start.

“This was compounded by those who were there not wanting to speak to them or answering questions and by the background of some of those present.”

She said that, while she understood the concerns, she did not share them and concluded that Mr Creed’s death was accidental.