Lee Gresham was just 40 years old when he was found unresponsive by paramedics
A 40-year-old man who struggled with drug abuse sadly died after suffering a bleed on the brain linked to cocaine use, a report has found. Lee Gresham, from Grimsby, who had an “extensive history” of offending, was recalled to HMP Hull in March 2023.
On April 5, Mr Gresham was released from prison but was found unconscious by paramedics just nine days later, tragically passing away in hospital on April 17. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) investigated the circumstances of his death, with a report published this month.
An inquest into Mr Gresham’s death concluded on 11 December 2024. It found that Mr Gresham’s death was drug related.
The post-mortem report “concluded that Mr Gresham died from a haemorrhagic stroke” which was “caused by cocaine abuse”, according to the PPO report. The post-mortem found “cocaine had severely increased his blood pressure, leading to the damage to his brain”.
Mr Gresham’s recall documents said that he “told staff that his main drug use recently had been cocaine”. He claimed this was weekly but “staff noted it was more frequent than this and included intravenous heroin use”.
The report said it was unclear exactly what Mr Gresham’s levels of substance misuse were in March 2023. When previously entering prison in October 2022, he said he was “spending at least £100 a day on crack cocaine, and was also using heroin several times a day”.
Mr Gresham “chose not to engage” with substance misuse services when he returned to prison in March 2023, the report said. Engagement was voluntary.
“He said that he did not use drugs and therefore did not undergo a urine drug screen, the report said. “[HMP] Hull confirmed that this is only offered to prisoners who declare a drug problem in order to help tailor a drug treatment programme.”
The report said Mr Gresham’s lack of engagement with substance misuse services meant he was not issued with naloxone (used to reverse opioid overdose) upon his release in April. He was “not reminded of the risks of overdosing after a period of abstinence” and “there is an elevated overdose risk on leaving prison”, the report added.
It added: “The post-mortem report did not show that opioids were a factor in Mr Gresham’s death, so the possession of naloxone is not relevant to this death, but his case does illustrate a gap in provision.” Mr Gresham was due to be tested for drugs at his next visit to the probation office., but sadly “this opportunity did not arise because Mr Gresham died before his appointment”.
The ombudsman report said it was “encouraged by two areas of good practice we encountered in this investigation”, noting the local probation practice of coordinating with community substance misuse providers prior to prisoner release.
HMP Hull and HMP Humber encourage released prisoners to wear wristbands that identify them as potentially needing treatment with naloxone in their possession in the event of a suspected opioid overdose. Mr Gresham was issued with one of these the previous October.
The report concluded: “We found no issues of concern and make no recommendations.”