Hollyoaks and reality TV star Paul Danan died from a cocktail of drugs including cocaine and heroin, a coroner has heard.
The actor, 36, played bad boy Sol Patrick from 1997 to 2001 on the Channel 4 soap and was later known for his reality TV appearances, including on Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Love Island.
An inquest into Danan’s death was opened and adjourned before Maria Voisin, senior coroner for Avon, at Avon Coroner’s Court on Tuesday morning. Coroner’s officer Alexis Camp told the hearing that Paul was pronounced dead at his home in Brislington, Bristol, at 5.20pm on January 15.
His body was identified at the scene by his partner, Melissa Crooks. Ms Camp said: “The circumstances are that Mr Danan was found unresponsive at his home address. Emergency services attended and confirmed he had sadly died. A post-mortem has taken place and samples have been removed for further analysis”.
The court heard that the provisional cause of Paul’s death is combined toxicity of heroin, methadone, coedine, pregabalin, cocaine and zopiclone, contributed to by benzodiazepine use. Ms Camp added: “I understand there are no family concerns”.
Statements will be taken from Paul’s GP, family, police, the ambulance service and inquiries are ongoing with Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP), she said. Ms Camp said: “No note was left”. The coroner set a provisional date of May 28 for Paul’s full inquest hearing.
Paul had been due to appear for a plea hearing at Warrington Magistrates ‘ Court on January 16 after being charged with being in possession of cocaine and cannabis, according to court documents. He was also accused of driving whilst under the influence of drugs on October 2 last year, in Warrington, Cheshire.
The late actor had been open about his struggles with addiction, with entering rehab and trying to recover. Back in 2019, during a poignant moment on The Jeremy Kyle Show, Paul divulged his journey through ‘ 17 stints in rehab’, and shared: “They]rehabs] do work. They’re amazing. They’ve saved my life many times but it’s maintenance and it’s about sustaining that recovery and not putting anything before that recovery – even my little boy, who I love to death”.
Despite the efforts, his struggle continued, facing a relapse which he disclosed on The Dozen with Liam Tuffs podcast last year following his Hollyoaks departure. “It took a bad route, a very dark route. Drugs, I had an overdose. I came out of rehab in South Africa. The psychiatrist had put me on all these anti-psychotics. I was there for months”, he confessed about his troubled past. “I got back home and my parents were so proud of me. I was fat and horrible and didn’t feel like myself”.
He regretfully recounted how he relapsed shortly after: “They gave me my keys and car and I detoured and got some gear, some coke. I got a bag of brown]heroin] which I’d never done before. I snorted it and shouldn’t have snorted it because that’s dangerous. I ended up having an overdose really bad”.
Paul previously opened up about how his drug ordeal began once he left the popular soap in 2001 and sought fame in Los Angeles, saying last year: “You can’t party and do well in Hollywood. You’ve got to be healthy. It was cool but I ended up getting into the wrong type of routine of using drugs”.
*Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
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Source: Mirror
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