A young Saudi prince was found dead in a luxury London hotel after investigators concluded he had consumed a combination of alcohol, GHB and other substances months after undergoing treatment for addiction.
Abdullah bin Fahad bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Jalawi al Saud was discovered dead inside his £600-a-night room at the Marriott Hotel in Kensington, West London, on November 25 last year after consuming alcohol at almost three times the legal drink-drive limit alongside the party drug GHB.
An inquest held at the Inner West London Coroner’s Court heard that the 29-year-old royal had checked into the hotel on November 19 for a planned one-week stay.
CCTV footage presented during the hearing showed him leaving the hotel to smoke a cigarette on the evening before he was found dead.
The court was told that a cleaner later entered his locked fifth-floor room and found him fully dressed on the bathroom floor.
Emergency responders and hotel security were alerted immediately, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Evidence presented at the inquest showed that toxicology tests recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 222mg per 100ml, significantly above the legal drink-drive limit of 80mg and within a level capable of causing a coma.
The report also detected potentially fatal concentrations of Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), commonly referred to as a party drug. Investigators further found traces of cannabis, the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, widely known as Xanax, at a recreational dose, along with other anti-anxiety drugs at therapeutic levels.
The hearing further established that the prince had been battling alcohol dependence and misuse of Xanax before his death.
Court records showed that he had received inpatient treatment in August last year at the Priory Clinic in Roehampton, south-west London, where residential care can cost up to £35,000 per week.
During his admission, he underwent detoxification from alcohol, benzodiazepines and the anti-anxiety medication Pregabalin.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Victoria Chamorro said he had “engaged well” and the detox had “proceeded without physical side effects.”
(The Independent UK)