The son of of Wandsworth Council's former leader died at a Full Moon Party in Thailand with a cocktail of drugs including heroin, cocaine and amphetamine in his system.

Andrew Udny-Lister, 28, was found unconscious in his hotel room in Koh Phangan after attending the notorious monthly party on September 12, 2011.

His father, Sir Edward Lister, was the council leader for nearly 20 years and is now one of Boris Johnson's deputy mayors at City Hall.

Mr Udny-Lister, of Seymour Road, Southfields, had only been in Thailand for two days travelling from Bangkok to Koh Pangan, an island in the south.

Daniel Parsons, who travelled to Thailand with Mr Udny-Lister, told the inquest at Westminster Coroners Court this morning the pair had drunk a "fair amount" of alcohol on the night, but said his friend was not known as a drug user.

But he did concede his friend might have "experimented with something", because it was common among their social circle.

After attending the party the pair went back to their hotel room just after midnight to have more drinks with friends.

Mr Udny-Lister was found unconscious by Mr Parsons at 4.30am and he died in a local hospital an hour later.

The parties, which are held on Haad Rin or Sunrise Beach, have become increasingly popular with party-loving travellers for the last 30 years.

In the days following his death, Mr Udny-Lister's family "vehemently" denied accusations that their son's death was linked to drugs.

His father, Sir Edward Lister, left Wandsworth Council in May 2011 to become Boris Johnson's policy and planning guru - after becoming leader in 1992.

Mr Udny-Lister went to Roehampton Church School and All Saints, Putney, before briefly becoming a plumber and then following his father to Wandsworth Council where he worked for several years as a housing officer, a job he grew to love.

Sir Edward gave a tearful tribute to his son: "He was a Southfields man, who could regularly be seen in the area and loved his home town.

"He was a loyal guy to friends, very sociable and enjoyed travel and history, in fact he always had a book in his hand.

"Andrew, we all loved him, and for us, life will never be the same again."

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox told the inquest the Thai authorities had concluded the death was down to "respiratory failure due to inadequate rest".

She also highlighted the evidence from pathologist Dr Michael Heath who found strong evidence of "heavy use" of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and amphetamine in blood taken from his heart and hair.

The samples pointed to drug use over the four previous months prior to his death, but the nature of the samples and delay in the body being returned to the country meant Dr Heath was unable to tell for sure when the drugs had been ingested.

Dr Wilcox, who returned a narrative verdict, said: "It was the combination of all these circumstances that led to and caused Andrew Udny-Lister's death, plus a lack of sleep, alcohol and drugs.

"I register his official cause of death as unascertained."

 

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