Grandad took drugs to ‘keep up’ with colleagues before suffering cardiac arrest

A beloved grandad suffered a cardiac arrest and died after taking amphatemaines to keep up with his “younger and fitter colleagues”.

Nicholas MacBeath, 44, from Manchester fell off his bike in 2019 and injured his back, leaving him in agonising pain.

Later that year, he started working at a funfair in the city, the Manchester Evening News reports.

His daughter Sophie Burkhill told an inquest at Manchester Coroners' Court: "He struggled with work but he enjoyed it. The [others working at the funfair] are young, fit, able to move things, be quick on their feet.

"It was not intentional he had taken [the medication] just to keep up with them. It was a hard job, he was working in the blazing sun."

On July 25, 2019, he was taken to hospital after a cardiac arrest at home.

Mr MacBeath died that afternoon at the North Manchester General Hospital.

Daughter Sophie said her father had struggled with his mental health and was anxious about an upcoming court date but could "see the light at the end of the tunnel" and had been "back to his normal self".

He had also suffered serious mental health episodes and had a painful tooth extraction the week before his death, coroner Zak Golombeck told the court.

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A post-mortem examination later revealed he had taken a toxic mix of amphetamine and died from "major aspiration of food material".

The coroner retired to look at all the evidence before giving a conclusion of misadventure.

Paying tribute to "Grandad Chicken", Sophie said: "He was kind, he would do anything for anyone and you could ring him up at two in the morning and he would jump in his car and get there.

"He loved everybody. He would do anything. He was definitely a family man."

His partner, Tammy Thompson, said Nick was a "very loved" dad to 11 and grandad to 10 children.

She added: "His hobbies would always seem busy – from making me a coffee table to trying to rebuild a giant plane for our youngest two boys that he used when he was young.

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"He had so many handy ideas – he was rebuilding bikes towards the end, he would be around his eldest son's house doing some woodwork projects, and he used to tinker in his parents' garage and help with bits for his eldest daughter too.

"Work-wise his heart was always with the fairground. He loved the buzz of the build-up and working the Waltzer when he was younger.

"His family, his parents were his pride and joy – our family life was chaos but now it feels so empty especially after a long, hard, busy day when we would love to just curl up and watch random films planning our lives."

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