Man died in fire at London flat started accidentally while making crystal meth, inquest finds

A demolition specialist living in an empty block of flats earmarked to be knocked down was killed in a fire he accidentally started while making crystal meth, an inquest has heard.

Daniel Coleman, 42, died in the fire at Flat 16, Aspen House on Maitland Park Villas in Chalk Farm, north London, in February.

He had been working as a construction site manager for the building which was due to be demolished to make way for a 119 new home development from Camden Council.

At an inquest into his death, senior coroner Mary Hassell said the London Fire Brigade had found a makeshift bed, mattress and clothing rail in the aftermath of the fire.

She told a hearing at St Pancras Coroner’s Court that evidence indicated Mr Coleman had a “drug problem” which was an “ongoing issue” at the time of his death.

Ms Hassell said evidence from the fire-damaged flat discovered by the LFB pointed to crystal meth being made inside through a method known as “shake and bake”.

“This is known to be dangerous and volatile and can cause explosions that are very sudden and bring with them fire,” she said.

Ms Hassell added:”This was about drugs, the drugs lead to a fire, this was at Aspen House, where Daniel was living at the time of his death.”

During the hearing on Tuesday, conflicting evidence was heard over whether Mr Coleman had been living inside Aspen House.

Friend and former colleague Elias Michallides said Mr Coleman had texted him the Aspen House address and invited him to visit, sending photos of where he was staying.

“I understood that he was squatting there,” Mr Michallides, explaining that when they had first met Mr Coleman had slept where he worked.

He said he had not known Mr Coleman took crystal meth and described him as “always sober” when they worked together at a separate demolition site in 2018.

“He was often downbeat about his situation,” he told the court.

“He talked about maybe going to live in Thailand or getting a job in a foreign country, but never suicidal thoughts, he never expressed that to me.”

Mr Michallides suspected Mr Coleman had been living in a porters’ room when they previously worked together and recalled an incident when he had approached him looking “dishevelled” and with “singed eyebrows”, saying he had been “blown up” by a “gas leak”.

Ms Hassell wondered if it had potentially been “an accident while he was making crystal meth”, but Mr Michallides said he did not see evidence of this.

In a written statement, Conal McCleery, who first met Mr Coleman seven years ago, said he was “well respected” in the construction industry.

Mr McCleery claimed Mr Coleman had “frittered” away £150,000 in the space of two years and that he was aware he “started using crystal meth”.

He assumed Mr Coleman had been living at Aspen House and, shortly before his death, had received a message from him which read: “My last couple of weeks in my best hideout yet.

“Sad Days.”

In written evidence local resident John Devlin, who lives in a building overlooking Aspen House, claimed in the two weeks before the flat fire he saw a light inside at night and torchlight on the stairs.

But site security guards Ibrahim Yahya and Jerry Thompson insisted in court Mr Coleman could not have possibly lived in the building without them noticing.

Ms Hassell said that, despite conflicting evidence, she was satisfied that Mr Coleman had been living in Aspen House, highlighting that nobody working on site had seen him intoxicated.

She said Camden Council had not conducted a drugs test on Mr Coleman, who was not a council employee but hired through an agency.

Ms Hassell gave a narrative determination over Mr Coleman’s death, noting the medical cause was “exposure to fire” with contributing factors of methylamphetamine and ketamine intoxication.

“Daniel died in a fire at Aspen House that he himself started accidentally when he was preparing crystal meth for his own use,” she said.

She concluded: “Ultimately this was a drug-related death.”

Mr Coleman’s mother watched proceedings in court, while his wife Louisa Thompson followed via video-link.