Ramsay chef took cocaine before fatal fall

A chef who ran the kitchens of Gordon Ramsay's top restaurant had taken a potentially fatal amount of cocaine before falling to his death from a block of flats, an inquest was told yesterday.

David Dempsey had earlier rampaged through the flats in Chelsea, London, on 4 May. A forensic toxicologist told the inquest that Mr Dempsey had ingested enough drugs, which, mixed with alcohol, could cause delirium, agitation and possibly a coma and death.

The inquest was told that police had been unable to establish why he had gone to the flats, or whether his behaviour was linked to the cocaine use. He died from multiple injuries after falling three storeys to a basement patio. Witnesses described being confronted by Mr Dempsey at the flats. George Niedringhaus, a banker, said he found the chef bleeding, surrounded by broken glass in the middle of his lounge. He pushed him into the hallway, but Mr Dempsey slipped into another room, smashed the windows and disappeared on to a balcony.

Another resident, Michael Nicholson, said he saw Mr Dempsey shuffling along a window ledge, smashing windows behind him with a golf club.

Family and colleagues said that they had never seen him take drugs, but Paul Carroll, another chef, told the inquest that Mr Dempsey had confessed to having "taken a bit of charlie" (a slang name for cocaine) on the night he died.

Mr Ramsay told the inquest that he had dined with Mr Dempsey the night before his death. He said Mr Dempsey, whom he described as a "tremendous and talented" chef, seemed slightly agitated. They had discussed the fact that three female chefs had resigned since he had arrived and he had accepted responsibility for the "strife".

Mr Ramsay said there was no evidence Mr Dempsey had been taking drugs and said he would have known drug abuse was not tolerated in his kitchen. Anyone caught would be sacked. Mr Ramsay went on: "He knew that I had a zero tolerance acceptance of drugs."

The hearing was adjourned by Dr Paul Knapman, the Westminster coroner, to allow Mr Dempsey's family to obtain their own toxicology reports. The coroner also ruled that further mobile phone and CCTV footage should be obtained after the family's lawyers expressed concern about aspects of the police inquiry.

Mr Dempsey, 31, from Glasgow, had recently been appointed head chef at the restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, which has three Michelin stars. His partner and two children remained in Glasgow. He also worked at Mr Ramsay's Glasgow restaurant Amaryllis, helping it gain a Michelin star.

Dr Nikolas Lemos, a toxicologist at St George's Hospital in Tooting, said Mr Dempsey's blood-alcohol level was 36mg per 100ml, below the drink-drive limit of 80mg. The cocaine level was 1.36mg.

He added: "A level of 0.9mg of cocaine can induce severe toxicity. That can be manifest in many ways including coma and death. Cocaine tends to cause quite a bit of stimulation when combined with alcohol, no matter how small. It has been shown ... that it affects the psychomatics and can cause a syndrome of cocaine-excited delirium, including hypothermia, agitation, cardiac respiratory arrest and death." He stressed that the effects would depend on whether Mr Dempsey was an experienced or novice cocaine user.