Drug death of virtual reality game pioneer
A SUCCESSFUL author on the brink of Hollywood success died in his home after a fatal morphine overdose.
Journalist Timothy Guest, 34, of Woodside Avenue, Muswell Hill, was found unconscious by his wife of 10 months, who tried in vain to revive him just before midnight on Friday, July 31.
An inquest into his death at Barnet Coroner's Court on Wednesday, November 18, revealed he was an "extreme" recreational user of heroin, cocaine, crack and alcohol, but was seeking help from his GP.
Assistant deputy coroner Patricia Harding told his widow Joanna Guest: "I'm very, very sorry for your loss. It's such a terrible waste.
"If only you could get people, who think that it is okay to dabble in drugs, to come here and see the absolute devastation it brings.
"But I hope you take some comfort that it would not have been a painful death for him."
A post mortem examination gave cause of death as respiratory failure after taking "incredibly high levels" of morphine.
Blood tests revealed he had 1,020 micrograms of morphine per litre of blood.
Mrs Guest had last seen him alive and sober at about 9.30pm as she went out for a drink with a friend.
When she returned a few hours later he was lying lifeless on their bed.
Bank statements showed that he had taken out £160 earlier that day. It is not known where he got the drugs.
Mrs Guest said: "He had been doing
it for a year, maybe two years and he
had done it in his teenage years as well. It was very much an extreme recreational use. He was seeing DASH (Drugs Advisory Service) and was supposed to be doing abstinence. I would not describe him as dependent or suicidal."
His GP, Dr William Zermansky, of Highgate Group Practice, said a collapse in January of that year brought on by drugs had frightened Mr Guest.
He said in a statement read out in court: "He wanted to seek help. He felt quite low since that episode."
The virtual reality community, who hailed Mr Guest as a pioneer of virtual reality game Second Life after he wrote a book on the modern phenomenon, has been left reeling from his shock death.
Brad Pitt is said to have bought the film rights for his work Second Lives: A Journey Through Virtual Worlds with the hope of making it into a Hollywood movie.
He also wrote for newspapers including The Guardian, The Observer and The Telegraph Magazine.
His first novel My Life in Orange told of his unconventional upbringing in a series of communes across England, the US and India, where he was rechristened Prem Yogesh.
Ms Harding recorded a narrative verdict saying that he had died from a non-dependent use of drugs.
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Muswell Hill
Journal News |
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