Ed Barry inquest continues
The
best friend of teenager Edward Barry said the day before he was
found dead, Edward had been swigging methadone.
Jake Deveney appeared before the jury
at the inquest into Edward Barry’s death at Gravesend’s Old Town
Hall.
Speaking on Monday, he described what
happened on Edward’s last day alive and how he had two bottles of
methadone in his bag which he swigged from on the train to
Dartford.
Mr Deveney, who was 19 at the time,
said he started smoking weed about six months after they first met
in 2009 and began drinking.
He said: "He didn’t drink heavily. He
took the drink and drugs together but it didn’t seem to have any
effect on him.
"On a day to day basis if he was drinking and smoking, I wouldn’t
know.
"I did see a change over the months.
By late summer I asked him why he kept doing drugs and his
personality seemed completely different.
"I said ‘you’re turning into one of
them’ and we had an argument."
The pair last met on November 19, the
day before Edward was found dead in recovering heroin addict
James Drummond’s flat in Parrock Street.
Ed, as he was known to his friends,
called Mr Deveney from Mr Drummond’s flat and they agreed to meet
up at the train station at 10am.
Mr Deveney said Ed’s appearance was
different.
He looked like he’d had a "bad night" and his clothes "were all
wrinkled up".
He said: "I hadn’t seen him in a state
like that before. He was obviously stoned – before I couldn’t tell,
but that day he seemed quite dazed.
"He was really upset about breaking up
with his girlfriend and didn’t know what he was going to do.
"He’d kissed another girl and was worried he’d wrecked it. He was
talking about all sorts of situations that would come out of
it.
"He wasn’t going crazy but he was
worried what would happen.
"Ed had a bag with him and it had
methadone in it, a green liquid in a bottle with a white lid. On
the train he had two cupfuls."
The pair, with other friends, then
stayed at the skate park in Dartford until about 4pm.
While there Ed took another sip of methadone, Mr Deveney said.
He continued: "He was a bit drowsy but
that was his personality anyway so it was hard to know if it had
any effect on him.
"On the train back, he asked if he
could borrow some money for rent and bills and things.
"I got paid that day and agreed to
give him some, think I gave him about £20."
Mr Deveney parted company with Ed but
bumped into Mr Drummond as he headed up towards the Woodville and
told him he’d given Ed cash so he could pay the rent.
The next day Mr Deveney was on a bus
that went passed the flat in Parrock Street when he saw police cars
and an ambulance outside following Ed’s death.
Mr Deveney added: "I thought someone
had fallen down the stairs or there’d been a drug raid."
Another friend, Lewis Widdison, also
gave evidence and said he'd lived at Mr Drummond's Parrock Street
flat but left a few weeks before Ed moved in because of drug
use.
He said he'd met up with Ed in
Dartford on the same day and was offered methadone.
Mr Widdison, who'd given up drugs a
fortnight before Ed died, told the inquest: "I didn't want it. I
said to him be careful, but there wasn't much else I could do. What
could I do?"
Describing Mr Drummond's flat, Mr
Widdison added: "It wasn't a good environment to be in."
In tomorrow's Gravesend
Messenger there is evidence for James Drummond, Ed's psychiatrist,
social worker and an email from his school demanding action be
taken immediately just nine minutes before his body was
discovered.
The inquest
continues.
06/03/13
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