Lakenheath man ‘mistakenly’ overdosed on medication in bid to control ‘chronic pain’, inquest hears

A gym instructor from Lakenheath who died following a drug overdose was ‘mistakenly’ over-using his medication to control chronic pain, an inquest into his death has heard.

Daniel Hill, 35, was found dead at his home in Jubilee Road on September 5 last year after choking on his own vomit following a methadone overdose.

The inquest on Friday at the Active Business Centre, in Bury St Edmunds, heard that Mr Hill had been suffering from nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath in the weeks prior to his death and had visited his GP just a few days before.

A report from his GP, Dr Judith Roberts, said Mr Hill had been suffering from ‘chronic pain’ since sustaining an injury to his right arm in 2013.

However, in a statement his family said they were ‘100 per cent certain’ he had taken higher doses of methadone ‘mistakenly’ for pain relief, a fact which Mr Hill himself realised after he started to feel ‘sick and unwell at night’.

Recording a conclusion of death from complications following a methadone overdose, Dr Dean said: “There were no signs he had in any way intended to harm himself and had been taking more pain relief because of the pain he suffered.”

Dr Dean said Mr Hill had begun using drugs in his early 20s after ‘falling in with the wrong group of people’.

“His family were very supportive of him, but he was very private about his treatment and sadly got dragged back into drug use on occasion,” Dr Dean added.

The inquest heard Mr Hill had worked hard to quell his addition, starting to use the gym and eventually qualifying as a level three personal trainer.

His father, Simon Hill, had seen his son a few days before his death and said he seemed fine.

Dr Dean said: “His father felt he had taken more methadone on that fateful night mistakenly thinking it would make him feel better.”