The ex-husband of Amy Winehouse suffered another family tragedy when his younger brother died of a drugs overdose, it has emerged.
Freddy Civil, the younger brother of the singer's former husband Blake Civil-Fielder, died on April 26 last year after a heroin overdose, an inquest heard.
Jurors was were told Freddy, 27, absconded from a mental health hospital before checking into a £40-a-night B&B in Leeds, where he administered the fatal dose of drugs.
Medics were called to the hotel, where Freddy was staying with a friend, and found him face down in just his underpants and he was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
Blake attended the inquest at Wakefield Coroners Court, which heard no external injuries were found on Freddy’s body during his post mortem.
A pathologist told jurors he had ‘fatal levels of morphine’ in his body that was from the injection of heroin. An internal examination found he had choked on his own vomit.
Pathologist Lisa Barker told the court: “It was indicated as the lower end of the fatal range.
“It might be survived by someone who regularly took heroin, because they build up a tolerance, but it might even have overdosed a chronic user.
“It was in the fatal range, even for somebody with a history of taking heroin.”
The inquest heard Freddy, who was born in Grantham, Lincs., had been made subject to a hospital order by a judge after being sentenced to HMP Leeds for a crime that wasn’t specified.
He had been detained under the Mental Health Act at Newton Lodge, a medium security unit in the grounds of Fieldhead Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorks, since the autumn of 2018.
Jurors were told he had initially been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but that it was likely drug-induced rather than a mental disorder.
On the morning of his death, he had been escorted to an area of the hotel where patients can do their banking and withdrawn around £100 cash and bought a drink from a shop.
But on his way back to his wing of the hospital, he gave the staff member escorting him the slip and ran out of the grounds of the unit.
The member of staff gave chase, but couldn’t keep up and he was immediately reported missing to police.
However, later that night, cops were called by the ambulance crew who found him unresponsive in his hotel room.
Detective Constable Charlotte Carroll told the court Freddy’s pal Dennis Lennon has raised the alarm with hotel staff after Freddy injected himself with the drugs.
The court heard Lennon raced downstairs and told staff: “Ring an ambulance, I think he’s dead.”
When asked what had happened, Lennon told staff: “He’s overdosed.”
The court heard Lennon was arrested and interviewed.
He told police that he and Freddy had bought some beers earlier in the day and agreed to meet up later after Freddy had been shopping.
He was later released as cops had no reason to believe he’d supplied the drugs to Freddy.
DC Carroll told the court Lennon said he had been there to catch up with his old friend and he was concerned Freddy might be in trouble so wanted to keep an eye on him.
Freddy’s mum Georgette Civil had concerns over Freddy’s care at the unit, the court was told.
In a statement read out to the court on her behalf, she said Freddy had ballooned from 9st to 17st since being detained.
And she said in the statement he was only given an hour’s worth of exercise and activity per day, below the NHS recommendation of 25 hours of activity per week.
Her statement read: “Freddy raised a complaint of staff abuse and he needed two-to-one staffing.
“He was strip-searched by staff who made him perform squats while he was naked from the waist down. Staff also called him a paedophile.
“Freddy was moved around from ward to ward and this didn’t maximise his stability.
“Freddy was suffering from severe Eczema and also suffered from Alopecia.”
Mrs Civil told the court Freddy’s detention was due to end in June 2021 and he was making plans to open a barbershop with her help, as she was a retired hairdresser.
But Dr Suraj Shenoy, consultant forensic psychologist at the hospital, said Freddy had become 'frustrated' at being in hospital for so long.
The doctor said he believed Freddy would have been better suited to being treated for drug addiction at home.
He told the court Freddy 'did not trust' a number of staff at the hospital and he expressed concerns that he would not be released.
Dr Shenoy told the court that Freddy had been moved to different wards after he’d been able to buy drugs from other patients.
Blake previously admitted being the person who first gave Amy heroin. The pair were married for two years, from 2007.
The Back to Black singer died aged just 27 in 2011 of alcohol poisoning after a much publicised battle with drink and drug addiction.
The inquest, due to last four days, continues.
