Sri Lankan investigation into death of British rugby players ‘does not sit right’

An inquest at a British coroner’s court heard how Sri Lankan authorities conducted an investigation into the deaths of two British rugby players that “did not sit right” and was riddled with inconsistencies this week.

Thomas Howard and Thomas Baty both died in a Colombo hotel last year, after being found unresponsive in their beds at the Kingsbury hotel.

Though pathologists said that it seemed “highly likely” the cause of death was “opiate toxicity”, it remained unclear how the two men - who were not habitual drug takers - had come to consume such amounts.

A coroner was told how the investigation conducted by authorities on the south Asian island “did not sit right” and contained various inconsistencies, reports The Guardian.

Det Cons Phil McEhone from Durham Police, added a man was named in a Sri Lankan court as the alleged drug dealer but he was never arrested and "seems to be forgotten about".

Amongst the various issues highlighted at the inquest were the timing of the alleged purchase of heroin, the amount paid and volumes bought.

See more from the BBC here and The Guardian here.

 

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