Doctors failed to remove cocaine-filled condom from stomach

A DRUG mule nearly died in a Camden police cell after doctors at University College London Hospital failed to remove all of the cocaine packets hidden in his stomach, it emerged this week.
The full story of how West Hampstead mother-of-two Suzanne Idehen saved Dutch drug mule Anthony Johnson’s life was revealed last night (Wednesday), when the Independent Custody Visitors Camden Panel published its annual report.
Mr Johnson, 37, was acquitted in October of drug trafficking charges at
Snaresbrook Crown Court – he successfully argued that he had been forced to carry the drugs.
He had been arrested after collapsing in Camden Town last April, with five kilogrammes of cocaine hidden in 60 condoms inside his stomach.
Police kept him under guard at UCLH, where doctors removed 59 condoms but failed to spot the last one before returning him to police custody.
Only the intervention of Ms Idehen, an independent custody visitor (ICV) with powers to turn up at Camden police stations unannounced and check on the welfare of detainees, saved his life.
She found him passed out on the floor of a cell at Holborn police station on May 3, ten days after his arrest, and demanded to see his custody record.
Noticing that he had tested positive for cocaine that morning – a fact apparently missed by custody staff – she pointed out that something was seriously wrong and demanded he be seen again by a doctor.
The remaining leaky condom, containing a fatal dose of approximately 80 grams of cocaine, was removed and Mr Johnson recovered.
Ms Idehen, who visited cells at Kentish Town with the New Journal on Tuesday night, became an ICV because she was concerned about the number of black men dying in police custody but does not blame police for the errors in Mr Johnson’s case.
She said: “Police need more help from healthcare professionals looking after vulnerable prisoners, particularly in Camden, which has high rates of drug abuse, mental illness and drunkeness.
“I was only happy that I was able to help.
“The way I see it is everybody – no matter what they’ve done – is someone’s son or daughter or brother or sister and they need to be looked after.”
Senior officers say the introduction of ICVs in the 1990s has helped to raise standards in the borough’s three custody suites and to highlight important issues, such the increasing use of police cells to detain illegal immigrants.
But a lack of volunteers, alongside plans to introduce a fourth 24-hour custody suite at Albany Street Police Station, mean more ICVs are desperately needed.
A UCLH spokesman said clinical governance staff who may have investigated the case could not be contacted yesterday.
Anyone interested in volunteering can call Camden ICVs on 0207 278 5459.