A well-known Dublin criminal who was discovered unresponsive in his bed in a homeless hostel in Dublin two years ago died from “multi-drug toxicity”, an inquest has heard.
Jeffrey Mitchell (49), was pronounced dead at Aldborough House, Swords Road, Santry – a hostel run by the Peter McVerry Trust - on November 10th, 2022.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday heard a hostel worker had checked on the room where Mr Mitchell was sleeping at around 9am on November 10th, 2022.
Nicola Laird told the inquest into Mr Mitchell’s death that she could not see his face where he was lying on a bottom bunk bed in the room and did not answer when she tried to wake him.
She told the coroner, Dr Clare Keane, that she alerted the emergency services after trying to turn him over in the bed but was unable to do so because he was “so stiff."
He was formally pronounced dead at 11:06am.
No references to Mr Mitchell’s criminal past were made during the hearing.
However, the inquest heard he was a known drug user with a heroin addiction who had been living in the hostel since 2020.
In reply to questions from the coroner, Ms Laird said she had last seen the deceased the previous day, but that like all residents of the hostel, he would have been checked every hour during the night.
However, Ms Laird said he was not under any special observations that would have resulted in more frequent checks.
She said Mr Mitchell tended to keep to himself.
“He didn’t really cause any issues,” she said.
Taking drugs
Ms Laird said residents were allowed to remain staying in the hostel even if they were known to be taking drugs.
She confirmed that residents were provided with lockers where they could store their own medication, but that hostel staff had no role in overseeing that any prescribed medicines would be taken by residents.
In a written statement, the other resident sleeping in the bunk above Mr Mitchell, John O’Connor, said he last spoke to his roommate at 6pm the previous evening.
Mr O’Connor said Mr Mitchell had come back into the room at 10.15pm before leaving again.
He recalled getting up at 6:15am and going out before returning at 7am and going back to bed when Mr Mitchell appeared to be still asleep.
The inquest heard the deceased had been treated in hospital about a month before his death for a lung infection but was discharged after 24 hours.
Dr Keane said postmortem results showed that Mr Mitchell had chronic, long-term lung disease which might be linked to the fact that he was a smoker.
The coroner told relatives of the deceased who attended the inquiry that there were “a lot of substances in his system.”
They included cocaine, benzodiazepines, morphine and other drugs which were markers for heroin, but there were no traces of any alcohol.
The deceased wife, Norah Fennell, questioned if her late husband had died from a heroin overdose as she pointed out that there were reports at the time of his death that a quantity of the drug was found at the scene.
Media reports at the time quoted sources which claimed that around €50,000 worth of heroin was discovered in Mr Mitchell’s room in the hostel.
However, Garda Luke Hughes gave evidence that “nothing of evidential value was found at the scene.”
Garda Hughes also confirmed that there was nothing suspicious in relation to the death of the deceased.
Different medications
The coroner said it was most likely that “the combination of different medications” had caused Mr Mitchell’s death rather than that he took an overdose of any single drug.
Dr Keane said none of the individual drugs in his system were of a quantity that would be considered in the lethal range.
Ms Fennell said she had seen her husband on the day before his death when he was in a great mood.
“He was in better form than usual,” she recalled.
Returning a verdict of misadventure, the coroner said Mr Mitchell had died from “multi-drug toxicity” with his chronic lung disease considered a contributory factor.
Mr Mitchell, who came originally from Monasterboice Road, Crumlin had been living in Ballymun in recent years, but the inquest heard his address was given as “no fixed abode.”
Dangerous criminal
He was regarded as a dangerous violent criminal who was one of the biggest suppliers of heroin in Dublin and was understood to control the drugs scene in his native Crumlin during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The deceased had over 70 convictions including assault, robbery, possession of a firearm and handling stolen property.
He was also suspected of working closely with other senior criminals including Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg – the leaders of the notorious Westies gang who were both murdered in Spain.
Mr Mitchell was released from prison in 2019 after serving three years for assaulting a woman in 2013 as she walked home late at night after being out in a pub in Phibsboro with friends.
The court heard he had drunk 30 vodkas on the night as well as taking heroin.
He was also believed to have been involved in at least two murders including that of Neil Hanlon (19) a heroin addict who was tortured and mutilated in 2001 before his remains were discovered in a park in Crumlin.
The deceased was also regarded as the prime suspect for the murder of a criminal associate, David McGreevey (23) who was shot dead outside his home in Belgard Heights, Tallaght in February 2002.
He was also the target of a number of murder attempts during his life.
In 2001, he survived an attempted assassination when three men broke into his family home while he was staying with his mother in Crumlin.
Mr Mitchell managed to escape via the roof and ran across the rooftops of neighbouring properties but the gunmen shot his pet dog in front of his mother.
In the same year, his criminal gang was the target of Operation Jumbo which was established after gardaí suspected they were shipping in an estimated 40kg of heroin into Ireland every month.
Three years later he suffered life-threatening injuries after his throat was slashed when he was violently attacked by several inmates in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise.
While he was serving one sentence in prison, eight members of his family including both his parents died over an eight-month period.
*This article was amended at 7.30pm on Wednesday, August 20th, 2024.
