A former Russian soldier died of a methadone overd

A former Russian soldier died of a methadone overdose shortly before he was to be married, an inquest heard today.

(wed)

Andrey Stroguine, 25, was found dead in a chair by a group of friends including his fiancee.

Police arrived to find the flat littered with needles, teaspoons, Rizla papers and other drugs paraphernalia.

Anatoli Borisov, the owner of the flat in New Cavendish Street in the West End, said he suspected Stroguine had taken methadone from his bedroom.

‘We were drinking beer and waiting for our friends who wanted to go to a sauna in Kentish Town.

‘I saw Andrey had taken some drugs and I asked him if he had taken my Methadone.

He denied it.

‘At about 9pm I went into my bedroom and found him lying face up.

His lips were blue but he was still breathing.

‘I sat him in a chair in the kitchen and put a wet towel over his face to wake him up.

The colour returned.

‘I was worried but he seemed alright.

Then I went to the sauna and when I came back he was asleep.

‘In the morning at 7am as I opened the door I could see Andrey in the chair.

I knew he was dead, he was cold to the touch.

Andrey’s girlfriend saw him and became hysterical.

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Pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt said the toxicology report showed he had a fatal level of methadone in his blood.

‘It is enough to kill someone, particularly if they are not used to it and have taken it intravenously.

‘There was evidence of drug use with scar marks on his arms and fresh puncture wounds in his forearm.

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Stroguine, of The Broadway, Hendon, was born in Leningrad and served in the Russian Army between 1996 and 1998.

But he returned from National Service to find his wife living with another man and it is believed he began taking drugs to cope.

He moved to London in December 1999, found a girlfriend and was planning to marry very soon, according to his mother.

Coroner Dr Paul Knapman said: ‘He has taken somebody else’s Methadone and it has caused his death.

That evidence is compelling he had been taking drugs and died of methadone intoxication.

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