Islington News: Abdullah Ahmadzai | Fatal Overdose | Peregrine House

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Islington Tribune - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 24 October 2008

Inquest: Death not linked to arrest

A FATHER-of-six suffering from depression took a fatal overdose two days after being arrested at Heathrow airport on suspicion of money laundering, an inquest has heard.
Abdullah Ahmadzai, 64, was on police bail when he died after his family were unable to wake him at his home in Peregrine House, Hall Street, Clerkenwell, on January 31.
Two days earlier he had been held in custody for 24 hours at Heathrow police station after attempting to board a plane to his homeland, Afghanistan.
St Pancras coroner Dr Andrew Reid ruled out suicide at an inquest last week, stating that the link between Mr Ahmadzai’s death and his arrest two days earlier was “coincidental”.
Detective Inspector Jane Scotchbrook, from the Met Police’s Directorate of Professional Services, which investigates deaths within 48 hours of a police arrest, said: “There was no complaint about the arrest. Mr Ahmadzai suffered one fit and a police doctor was called in. It was a non-emergency and he was kept under 30-minute checks.”
Mr Ahmadzai was released on bail and returned home with police, who searched his flat. His son, Haris, told the inquest his father went to bed the night before his death in high spirits. The following morning his family could not wake him. He died later at University College Hospital in Bloomsbury.
Toxicology reports showed he had taken an overdose of a prescribed antidepressant. Dr Reid said: “There was no suicide note. It was a cry for help.”
Verdict: misadventure.

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