Mystery surrounds the death of a graffiti artist whose body decomposed for three weeks in his London flat. A pathologist carrying out the post-mortem was unable to ascertain how Lewis Wayne, aka Halo, had died.
His body lay on his bed for three weeks while the front door of the flat was open. As reported by My London, the 25-year-old from Hackney was found during a welfare check after he failed to turn up to a meeting for drug users.
Accommodation manager Holly Greaves turned up at the flat above a pub and realised the door was unlocked. In her statement, she said: "I pushed the door open and noticed legs on the door. We noticed black legs against the door and pushed the door again and noticed liquid on the floor."
There was some cannabis and white powder on the table, as well as three phones, a tablet, and £180 in cash. A toxicology report stated there were low levels of alcohol and medium levels of diazepam in Lewis's blood.
Neither were found in lethal quantities. But the report was hampered due to the time which lapsed between his death - around May 7 - and the discovery of his body on May 27.
Lewis, who leaves three sisters, had a history of drug and alcohol use, including diazepam and cannabis, and suicidal episodes. There were no signs of a disturbance in the flat, police reported, and paramedics saw no signs of injury.
At a hearing at Poplar Coroner's Court on Thursday (November 17), Lewis's mum Tracy Smith, 47, said her son had suddenly stopped messaging friends on May 7, leading her to think this was when he died.
She last saw him on April 27 when he visited to get some washing. She remembered: "I could see that he was on something, that he was intoxicated, obviously he had stuff in his body. I just left him to get his clothes I did not get into a confrontation."
Next time Tracy spoke to him on his birthday on May 1 when Lewis - who leaves behind three sisters - told her he had just been released from police custody after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. Then she did not hear from him for a few days before he finally went silent.
She said his drug use began at the age of 19. Lewis would "fill his belly" with a strip of diazepam and then drink a bottle of brandy, she said. And she tried and failed to intervene.
She explained: "I tried to phone the mental health worker myself and say what a problem this was. [But Lewis] would say 'How dare you try to stop my medication.'"
She also tried calling police days before his death, asking officers if they had any record of him on May 23. But, she said she resisted the urge to report him missing because she knew how upset it would make him.
When she finally got a call from police, Tracy said she knew straightaway he was dead. She said: "For me it was such a shock, I have always begged him, 'Please do not do that to me, do not make me the mum who gets the visit on the doorstep'.
"He's the first person to break my daughters' hearts, they adored him. We all miss him, it's such a tragedy," she said. "I wish there was more of a reason, more of an answer of why this happened.
"I feel like I lost my beautiful boy for no reason other than this awful stuff. Three of his friends have passed away through the same thing. Why do they not learn and see how awful it is?"
Lewis's tag can be seen across East London, including a huge tribute painted in white in Shoreditch this summer after his death. Lewis's friends also left more subtle tributes to him in including 'Miss you bro" sprayed into a letter on a larger piece and tags saying RIP.
Tracy - who told MyLondon she's convinced the drugs killed him - still questions why Lewis was able to get so much diazepam. She claimed his medical records showed he had tricked doctors into giving him more drugs by saying it was "missing" or he had left it with his aunty.
She said: "I now speak to some of Lewis's friends. I'm there saying to one 'Please stop, look what happened'. I'm saying 'Please, it's not worth it, you're a beautiful young boy'. I just wish I could have saved my own boy."
Camden and Islington NHS Trust launched an investigation into Lewis's death to see if it could have been prevented. A spokesperson for the trust said: "Having investigated, this was a death which was definitely unavoidable. There was no reason to believe this patient was any immediate risk when he was last seen or a risk to to self from any professional working with him."
This view was questioned by family friend Terry Tyler, 59, who asked: "Why did no health worker see it and do more?" Coroner Stevens explained reports showed "Lewis was not really good at engaging" with health services. He added: "They can't force people to engage, they do not have the power, they do not have the resources."
Recording an open conclusion, Coroner Jonathan Stevens said the court was "lacking evidence to know what happened to Lewis". Though he admitted his "worrying drug misuse habit" was the "most likely explanation", the lack of evidence would make such a conclusion "as good as guessing".
He continued: "We simply do not know why that door was insecure. We do not know whether drugs were a part or indirect cause of death, or if he had enough of life.
"Perhaps in a state of intoxication he fell over and hurt himself badly. The police did not think anything suspicious had happened, there had not been any sign of disturbance, they did not think any third party was involved. The only conclusion I can record is an open conclusion."
