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| DRUGS PROBE INQUEST
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BY JOHN
FLETCHER
12:00 - 26 June 2004 |
A family has won a partial victory after a
Devon coroner took the unusual step of adjourning an inquest
to await a Government inquiry into a controversial
anti-depressant drug. The inquest into the death of
53-year-old teacher Stephen Leggett, who died in a fireball at
a Devon beauty spot, began yesterday.
Police found his charred body near an opened petrol
can at Blackbury Camp, off the Seaton to Ottery road in East
Devon.
The father of two, from Ilminster in Somerset
and who was on the staff of a school in Taunton, was taking
the anti-depressant drug Citalopram, which is at the centre of
a Government probe amid claims it causes sufferers to commit
suicide. The drug is known as an SSRI - Selective Serotonin
Reuptake Inhibitor.
Results of investigative work being
undertaken on the drug are expected in the autumn, a fact
which brought an adjournment to the inquest to a date to be
fixed by the Greater Devon and Exeter coroner, Dr Elizabeth
Earland, yesterday.
She told the inquest at Honiton
that the inquest would continue after the findings by the
Government were known, probably in September.
Solicitor
Fiona Elder, representing the family, said: "SSRIs are an
ongoing area of research. If there is potential evidence on
the intention of these drugs, it could alter a
verdict.''
In police statements, officers said they had
been called on March 15 to Blackbury Camp, where they had
found Mr Leggett's burnt body down a track. A screw top from a
plastic petrol container was also recovered and his car was
found nearby.
A post-mortem examination and toxicology
tests for drugs revealed the deceased had traces of alcohol
and Citalopram.
In a statement, GP David Patter said
his patient had been stressed and depressed and had wanted to
get away from his job. He had been drinking lager on the day
he disappeared.
The coroner said the adjournment was
necessary, adding: "Clearly, there are other families in
similar circumstances to this requiring more time, so I am
adjourning this inquest to a date to be
fixed.''
Afterwards, the deceased's widow, Rosalind,
said: "I am pleased to have received an
adjournment."
Her son Thom added: "We are happy to be
given more time and feel this is a success in the controversy
surrounding SSRIs.''
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