Cambridgeshire man dies after accidentally drinking crystal meth worth £34,000

Inquest hears how Rodrigo Dias mistakenly believed the drug was a health drink

File photo showing two bags of crystal meth and packets of methamphetamine pills trafficked from Myanmar (AP)

A man has died after drinking from a bottle of liquid methamphetamine - otherwise known as crystal meth - after he mistook it for a health drink.

Romano Dias had been given a bottle of what appeared to be a fruit drink by his daughter after it was delivered to her home - the wrong address.

After drinking around half a glass of the liquid in his Cambridgeshire home, the 55 year old was immediately taken ill and subsequently died.

His partner, Debra Dulson said in a statement that Mr Dias took a gulp of the drink, told her it tasted awful and that his throat was burning. He then said: “I am in trouble here. I am dying, I am dead.”

Analysis of the bottle’s contents revealed that rather than holding what it said on the label, the bottle contained £34,000 of pure methamphetamine.

According to reports in the Cambridge News, an inquest into his death heard that his daughter, Katee, had found the drink in a package left outside her home. It had her address on it but under a different name.

She picked up the parcel expecting someone to collect it. When no one did after six months, she opened the package to find the bottle. Much later - around three years after the delivery - she gave it to her father.

Detective Inspector Ian Simmons said that the family had not been in anyway connected with the drug. “I would say it is highly likely it was destined for a dealer,” he said.

“This was a completely unaccountable and unforeseen chain of events.”

“The £34,000 is a significant amount,” he told the inquest. “It is unique, this is not an event that happens in Cambridgeshire or elsewhere.”

Pathologist Dr John Grant said the level of methamphetamine consumed was well above the lethal dose.

Coroner William Morris concluded that the death was accidental. “This is a dreadful case,” he said.

Crystal meth is a potent class A drug which is normally smoked, snorted or injected.

Although relatively rare in the UK, it has been brought to the British public’s attention by US show Breaking Bad, which tells the story of a science teacher who starts producing the drug.