Concerns as protonitazene claiming lives across east London

Igor Razmerita had little in common with the heroin overdose cases that usually appear before East London Coroner’s Court.

The 35-year-old Moldovan immigrant lived in Redbridge with his wife and two children. He had a good job as a technician at an upmarket cosmetic dental practice in west London.

He almost made it home on the day he died, but instead doubled back to Newbury Park Tube station, shut himself in the men’s toilet and administered what turned out to be a lethal injection.  

Described by his wife as “calm, hard-working, very family-orientated… healthy and full of energy,” Igor was in good health and seldom visited his GP.  

The journey from his first injection to his last was unusually short.

It all started on December 6, 2023, when Igor collapsed at home in Cantley Gardens and was rushed by ambulance to King George Hospital, Goodmayes.

“He explained to the doctors that he had taken heroin for the first time in his life at a friend’s house, out of curiosity,” said Graeme Irvine, senior coroner for east London, at an inquest late last year.

An examination by hospital staff suggested Igor genuinely was not a regular user. They could only find that one needle puncture on his body.

After being given an antidote and monitored for several hours, he was discharged “fit and well”.

“He said to the doctors that he would not do anything like this again,” Mr Irvine said.

West London dental technician Igor Razmerita was found dead in the men’s toilet at Newbury Park Tube station (Image: Google Streetview) As far as Igor’s family knew, that was the first and last time he ever used the drug.

But five months later, on May 1, 2024, after a day’s work in Ealing, he boarded a bus in Warwick Avenue and contacted a drug dealer.

He arrived back in Newbury Park and left, but was later filmed returning. He is believed to have met the dealer he messaged from the bus and spent £100 on heroin.

He was filmed entering the men’s toilet at 7.43pm. He was discovered unresponsive on the floor at 9.08pm.

Paramedics attached a defibrillator to his chest, but there was no electrical activity. He couldn’t be saved.

“Multiple hypodermic needles were found at the location,” said Mr Irvine.

An autopsy found a potentially fatal concentration of heroin in his blood.

But it also found a potentially fatal concentration of a second drug: protonitazene.

A series of inquests into protonitazene deaths have been held at East London Coroner’s Court in Walthamstow (Image: LDRS) “Real concern”

Igor’s death was among several which prompted Mr Irvine to express “real concern” last year.

“Protonitazene is an increasingly observed feature of deaths within this jurisdiction,” he told East London Coroner’s Court, Walthamstow.

“Certainly, two years ago they were entirely unheard of. In the last 18 months, they have grown in prevalence. This causes me real concern.”

Protonitazene was developed as a novel synthetic opioid painkiller in the 1950s but was so toxic that it failed clinical trials and was never manufactured as a drug, said Dr Lewis Couchman, research director at Analytical Services International, a forensic toxicology lab that serves coroners.

It is one of several so-called “zombie drugs” which were only banned in the UK last year. Before that, there had been no need to ban them. They hadn’t been seen or heard of in decades.

Unlike morphine or fentanyl, protonitazene is never used in clinical settings because it is simply too strong and too dangerous.

It is roughly 100 times more potent than morphine.

(Stock image of tablets) Protonitazene was developed as a painkiller in the 1950s but was so dangerous it never passed clinical trials. In recent years it has somehow been revived and made its way into the illicit drugs market (Image: Aidairi – Morguefile) Protonitazene is one of dozens of “abandoned drugs”, known broadly as nitazenes, which have somehow been “resurrected” in recent years, most likely to feed demand created by the deadly opioid crisis that has swept the USA.

“Worryingly, there are some very good synthetic chemists doing this illicitly,” said Dr Couchman.

At present, detected cases remain low but are increasing.

“We have had cases where people have taken nitazenes and not died, but they are pretty nasty,” he continued.

But more often than not, if a scientist comes across a nitazene compound, it’s because they’ve found it in the dead body of somebody it has killed.  

Nerijus Kaleda was found in a tent in Canning Town’s Hermit Road Recreation Ground, surrounded by drugs paraphernalia (Image: Google Streetview) Park death

On the morning Mr Irvine opened Igor’s inquest, it was one of three protonitazene cases opened back to back in the same courtroom.

The second was that of Lithuanian man Nerijus Kaleda.

In 2021, he was the registered director of a carpentry business in Caistor Park Road, West Ham.

By April 2024, he was homeless, living in a tent on the Hermit Road Recreation Ground, off Bethell Avenue, Canning Town.

He was discovered dead in that tent, surrounded by syringes.

Locals told investigators the area was a drugs hotspot.

“He was clearly deceased, so no CPR was undertaken,” coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe told his final inquest in October.

The 45-year-old was identified by his fingerprints, as he was by then known to the police.

An inquest into the death of Nerijus Kaleda was held at East London Coroner’s Court, Walthamstow, in October (Image: Charles Thomson) Indeed, his medical records were obtained by the coroner’s officers from Thameside Prison, where Nerijus had once been incarcerated – though the inquest was not told what for.

An autopsy found evidence of heart disease, and liver damage caused by alcohol dependency.

But his cause of death was multi-drug toxicity.

In his system were “cocaine, heroin and protonitazene, which is a synthetic opioid recently emerged into the illicit drug market,” Dr Radcliffe told the court.

Opening the three protonitazene inquests months earlier, Mr Irvine had “grave concern” and said he would seek an explanation from police as to what they were doing about east London’s rising protonitazene death rate.

“There is a report from the police confirming that there is ongoing involvement in the police in attempting to reduce the supply of illicit drugs in the area,” Dr Radcliffe told the final inquest – but that was all the detail given.

The Metropolitan Police last week refused to answer our own questions about what it was doing to detect and disrupt the protonitazene trade.

Radoslav Stankov was found dead in the bin area of Charlbury House, on the Little Ilford estate (Image: Supplied) The third man

Five days after Nerijus was found in his tent, another homeless man died from the toxic compound.

He was found slumped forward on his knees at the border of Newham and Redbridge, almost as if he was praying.

The bearded man sat dead in that position, in the bin area of Charlbury House, Grantham Road, for hours.

Residents of the Little Ilford estate were used to finding unconscious addicts strewn around the area like zombies. It wasn’t uncommon to see them out for the count in that same kneeling position.

This was not surprising, said Dr Couchman, as protonitazene is so powerful that “it can overcome people quite quickly” – before they even have time to realise they’re getting woozy and lay down.

Residents of the Little Ilford estate had spent years complaining about their estate’s drug problem and gathering evidence of addicts passed out on their doorsteps (Image: Supplied) Just weeks earlier, Newsquest had published a special report on the Little Ilford estate. Residents had been pleading with the authorities for years to tackle the area’s drug problems. Prophetically, one said in our report that without urgent intervention, somebody would soon die.

The community had taken to gathering and sharing evidence of the problem. That was why, at 9.39am on April 30, 2024, a tenant sent neighbours a photo of a man slumped in the bin area.

It was only when one of the recipients walked her dog four hours later and noticed the man was still in the exact same position, with flies buzzing around him, that she dialled 999.

Police took their own photo of the dead body and distributed it to colleagues by WhatsApp. A sergeant recognised him as 39-year-old Radoslav Stankov, a Bulgarian man known to beg at the junction of the A406 and Romford Road.

“He had a number of puncture wounds over his body and multiple needles were in his personal property,” coroner Nadia Persaud told his final inquest in October.

In his system were cocaine, heroin, codeine (a common contaminant of street heroin) – and protonitazene.

A tenant filmed shocking footage on the Little Ilford estate last year of a drug user with their drugs paraphernalia spread all over the floor of a block of flats (Image: Supplied) Mr Pink

Protonitazene was not the sole drug in any of these men’s systems. It was always detected alongside cocaine or heroin.

Dr Couchman said the toxic opioid is commonly cut into those drugs, meaning the people it is killing likely don’t even know they’re taking it.

“It is more likely to be taken unwittingly or unsuspectingly,” he said. “It might be that this is a cluster related to a particular dealer or batch of heroin.”

Months after Radoslav was found slumped outside Charlbury House, another man was found dead in eerily similar circumstances.

Homeless ex-con Martyn Pink, like Radoslav Stankov, was found slumped forward on his knees in a bin area.

Martyn died outside a Tesco Express at Roneo Corner, Hornchurch.

Like Radoslav, it was only when a member of the public realised Martyn hadn’t moved for quite a long time that they phoned for an ambulance.

Toxicology tests found cocaine and protonitazene in his system.

(Stock image of drug powder) Dr Lewis Couchman said protonitazene was more likely to be consumed unwittingly by drug addicts than specifically sought out, as it is cut into street drugs like heroin and cocaine (Image: LifeisGood – Morguefile) In March, an inquest will be held for yet another east London victim.

Laura Handford, 41, was found dead in Cheshunt Road, Forest Gate, by her housemates on July 10.

Opening her inquest, Mr Irvine reiterated his concerns.

“Protonitazenes are a worrying and increasing factor in deaths within this jurisdiction,” he said.

“It seems that more and more often we are seeing tragic deaths of relatively young persons that involve protonitazenes.”