A FAMILY has paid tribute to a 37-year-old Carlisle man found unresponsive during drug relapse in a bookmaker's shop in city. 

Adam Karim Bendjerad, from Carlisle, was found unconscious by customers of William Hill on Alexander Street in the city on April 5, 2023 

Nicola Quinn, the first staff member on the scene after being alerted, said in a statement to the Coroner’s Court in Cockermouth that she and another customer tried to resuscitate Mr Bendjerad by following instructions from emergency services on the telephone before paramedics arrived. 

He was rushed to the Cumberland Infirmary Carlisle by ambulance but was pronounced dead at 2.10pm that day. 

He was initially found in the toilet surrounded by paraphernalia associated with heroin use. 

Mr Bendjerad’s mother cited his ‘on-off forays into drugs’ but he ‘always sorted himself out’. 

The court heard that he had a history of misusing a number of drugs and alcohol but had been in recovery ‘for some time’. 

At 9.10am on the day of his death, he attended Recovery Steps Cumbria, where he spoke to Jeffrey Johnson, who he had known for around 20 years. 

Mr Johnson told Detective Inspector Chris Brennand of Cumbria Police that Mr Bendjerad said that he had relapsed after his relationship had recently ended. 

He said Mr Bendjerad ‘looked awful’, was ‘slurring’, and presented ‘the worst relapse I’ve ever seen’. 

Mr Bendjerad claimed to have drunk alcohol and taken tablets. 

He asked to use the needle exchange service, which was agreed. 

Recovery Steps Cumbria conducted an incident review following Mr Bendjerad’s death, amid concerns over the lack of documentation of the needle exchange process, and that Mr Johnson, as a friend of Mr Bendjerad, should not be involved in administering his needle exchange. 

Mr Bendjerad’s mother said: “Not a single day passed that we didn’t tell each other we loved each other, and even used to finish each other’s sentences.” 

She said he was ‘extremely good at maths and physics’, and loved watching Professor Brian Cox on television, and that despite his problems, was ‘always immaculately clean and smart’. 

His mother told how he performed voluntary work with the Hepatitis C Trust. 

Passing on his condolences Assistant Coroner for Cumbria Mr Robert Cohen concluded that Mr Bendjerad’s death was drug-related.

He said: “It is all too clear that he had left a huge hole in their (his family’s) lives.”