‘Polite and mild’ man died in policeman’s arms after he swallowed medication to cover them

PC Darkes told an inquest: “I wish I’d taken him to the hospital. There is not a day goes by that I don’t think what could I have done differently. I frequently have to drive past that street.”

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A ”polite and gentle” drug addict died of an overdose after he swallowed cocaine to hide it from police. Stephen Friday’s life slipped away in the arms of a police officer who had searched him for the drugs hours earlier in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

Police tried to resuscitate Stephen, 50, but he died at the scene, an inquest found. On Wednesday (April 1), Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court heard how he was stopped on Banbury Road by officers on patrol last year.

Stephen was known to the police force as a class A user and had frequent, friendly interactions with officers, the court heard. During the early hours of July 15, he had made plans to pick up cocaine powder and go to a friend’s house to smoke it as crack cocaine.

Police constable Sean Darkes, who had been serving as an officer for nearly a decade at that time and was familiar with Stephen from their regular interactions, saw him walking along Banbury Road in Bicester at about 1.15am and pulled up alongside him to chat.

Giving evidence at the inquest, PC Darkes said: “There was nine years I have never had an issue with Stephen. He was the most polite and gentle person within that circle that I have come across.”

When the officer asked Mr Friday if he had any drugs on him, the officer was ‘taken aback’ to see him pull a cellophane-wrapped packet of cocaine from his mouth.

An officer on patrol with PC Darkes, former police constable David McNamee, got out of the patrol car to detain and search Stephen, at which point the suspect made a throwing motion with his left arm and said: “You’re not having it, I’ve just thrown it away”.

The officers conducted a thorough search of Mr Friday’s person and the surrounding bushes and asked him repeatedly if he had swallowed or concealed the drugs.

Both were convinced that he had thrown them into the dense bushes at the side of the road and were telling them the truth, the court heard.

It would later come to light that the addict had swallowed a 3.5g packet of cocaine to conceal it from the officers. And in combination with an unknown amount of heroine and other drugs he had taken, this proved fatal.

The officers let Stephen go with the intention to invite him to a voluntary interview, and PC Darkes dropped him at a friend’s house round the corner as a favour before re-joining his colleague to continue the search for the ‘discarded’ drug packet – to no success.

Stephen’s friends said in statements read out in court that he had tried for up to an hour to recover the packet of cocaine he had swallowed but was unable to, and he left to return home.

PCs Darkes and McNamee discovered Stephen collapsed on the pavement in Banbury Road when they returned to the area to search further for the drugs packet once it got light, at about 4am.

They immediately called an ambulance and as PC McNamee started CPR, PC Darkes discovered from the man’s friends nearby that he had swallowed the drug packet and taken other substances beforehand.

Giving evidence at the inquest, PC Darkes said: “I wish I’d taken him to the hospital. There is not a day goes by that I don’t think what could I have done differently. I frequently have to drive past that street where Stephen died in my arms.”

Because the deceased had contact with police shortly before his death, the force made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for investigation.

It was found that officers reasonably believed Stephen had discarded the drugs, not swallowed them, and that they followed procedure.

Stephen’s medical cause of death was given as principally cocaine-related, mixed drug toxicity, after a post-mortem toxicology report discovered methadone, heroine and pregabalin in his system.

The coroner concluded it was a ‘drug related death’ and added that it was an “accidental overdose” most likely caused by the ingestion of the drug packet. Stephen’s parents, Judy and John Friday, attended the inquest with his uncle and brother.

In a statement, they said: “Stephen was a much-loved son and father to Molly, a loving brother to Paul and beloved nephew and cousin. He was a kind and polite person and always had time for other people.

“While our loss is immeasurable, we hold on to all the good times and happy memories we have and will love him always.”

The inquest heard that Stephen had been addicted to drugs since he was 17 and lived with his parents all his life, who had tried to help him with treatment.

He was known to neighbourhood police officers as a ‘polite’ and ‘gentle’ man, and PC Sean Darkes, who interacted with him on the night of his death, said he always stopped to engage with Stephen, who liked to ask how his family was.

Addressing Stephen family at the inquest, PC Darkes said: “I wish I could have had a phone call and spoken to you myself and shone some light not just on the case but also on the relationship I had with Stephen and what a beautiful person he was, and how well he conducted himself around us when so many others don’t.”

The coroner ruled Stephen died by accidental overdose after attempting to conceal drugs from the police during a stop and search.

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