A Dublin man who died in a London drug treatment centre eight months after being badly injured in an IRA bombing died from "inadequate care", an inquest jury has said.
However, the jury at Westminster Coroner's Court yesterday returned a verdict of misadventure in relation to the death of Mr Brendan Woolhead, a heroin addict.
Mr Woolhead (34) died after suffering convulsions during a controversial heroin detoxification treatment at the Wellbeck clinic in October 1996. He had received serious head injuries when a bomb being transported by an IRA man blew up next to him on a bus in Aldwych, London in February 1996.
The inquest was adjourned last April while police investigated the possibility of manslaughter charges against Dr Gary Gerson, the anaesthetist in charge of the treatment, who also pioneered the development of the treatment in the UK.
Initial police investigations had suggested the detoxification procedure was "reckless". However, no charges were laid after a toxicologist, Prof John Henry, said he was certain Mr Woolhead had taken opiates smuggled into the clinic during treatment.
Suspicion moved from the hospital to his girlfriend, Ms Gillian Cox, after blood samples suggested he had taken drugs smuggled into the hospital.
But Ms Cox (32) told the inquest yesterday: "I did not give him any heroin or methadone. I cannot see how he could have taken it in the hospital because there was no evidence of any syringe.
"He would have had to have had tinfoil if he was going to smoke it."
After the jury's verdict Ms Cox, who travelled from Dublin for yesterday's hearing, said: "We will be taking this to the civil courts. We are happy with the verdict. We were very glad to hear that the jury criticised the hospital's lack of care and lack of screening procedures."
Relatives have claimed the hospital was "grossly negligent" in its treatment of Mr Woolhead, who suffered epileptic fits following the bomb injuries.
At the last inquest sitting, the jury was told Mr Woolhead had not mentioned his head injuries when he first attended the Wellbeck clinic. However, his counsel said yesterday that although Mr Woolhead had failed to mention it to Dr Gerson, he had told nurses, who had then failed to pass the message on.
The jury heard that Dr Gerson had reluctantly agreed to Mr Woolhead taking one last heroin fix at home the night before he checked in for treatment under anaesthesia.
In hospital that night he told his visiting girlfriend he was feeling ill. At around 5 a.m. the next day he collapsed after complaining of severe headaches.
A post-mortem examination revealed he had died from epileptic convulsions brought on by trauma suffered as a result of the bombing.
However, two leading professors who examined the case blamed the detoxification process for causing his death.
A manslaughter investigation began after Profs Robert Kerwin, a neuropharmacological specialist at London's Maudsley Institute of Psychiatry, and Griffith Edwards, Emeritus Professor of Addiction Behaviour at London's National Addiction Centre, both described the detoxification procedure as "reckless".
Yesterday police told the court that large quantities of heroin or methadone were found in Mr Woolhead's bloodstream, indicating he had continued to take drugs long after his supposed deadline.
The jury's verdict was that Mr Woolhead "had a heart attack and a fit resulting from inadequate care. This is a case of misadventure."