DRUGS which contributed to the death of a Newport man in police custody could have been taken after he was detained, an inquest heard yesterday.

Andrew Sheppard, 22, of Bristol Street, was found unconscious in his cell at Newport Central police station at 10.39am on October 1, 2006. He was pronounced dead at the Royal Gwent Hospital at 1pm.

The inquest at Gwent Coroner’s Court into Mr Sheppard’s death previously heard an exact cause of death could not be determined, but Home Office pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter concluded it was “a sudden death of indeterminate cause in a young man who had taken cocaine and dihydrocodeine (a painkiller).”

Giving evidence at the hearing in Newport yesterday, consultant forensic toxicologist Professor Robert Forrest said blood samples taken from Mr Sheppard indicated he had taken a substantial amount of cocaine in the 12 to 24 hours before his death.

He said a very high concentration of dihydrocodeine was also found.

Prof Forrest said he could not exclude the possibility that Mr Sheppard may have taken an overdose of either of the drugs while in custody.

The inquest heard there are two types of dihydrocodeine - normal rapid release and a modified release formulation, the latter of which would release the drug into the system more slowly.

Prof Forrest said that depending on the type taken, the drug could have been absorbed into Mr Sheppard’s system over a number of hours.

He said: “There is only one certainty and that is that he had taken substantial amounts of cocaine and dihydrocodeine and the concentration of dihydrocodeine is high enough to kill him.

“It’s more rather than less likely that he took a substantial amount of dihydrocodeine after he entered custody, but I cannot be sure about that.”

Proceeding.