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The inquest into the death of a father-of-one was told about a killer opioid that has emerged in Northern Ireland in recent years. Jay Woolsey, from Portadown , was found dead by his mum and police in his Tandragee Road apartment on Friday, August 9, 2024, after he had taken methamphetamine and a powerful opioid -N-pyrrolidino isotonitazene - a nitazene that is 20 times stronger than fentanyl and several times stronger than morphine. It is believed that Jay purchased the drugs online via the dark web but it could not be determined whether or not he was aware that he was taking a nitazene drug and may have thought he was taking something less potent. Nitazenes are a synthetic opioid which have appeared in Northern Ireland in the past 18 months to two years and have only ever been detected when someone has died, with deaths connected to the drugs increasing recently. An inquest into his death at Banbridge Courthouse heard that the 33-year-old's cause of death was bronchitis and pneumonia that were directly caused by the nitazenes and contributed to by the methamphetamines, with the respiratory failures developing within a matter of hours within the otherwise perfectly healthy man. Giving evidence at the inquest, Jay's mum Gillian McCann said she had been speaking to her son the day before he was found dead and that he had been excited to meet up with his family. She had attended his apartment on August 9 after not hearing from him and got help to access the property after he would not respond at the door. She found Jay sitting on a chair in front of his television having already passed away and he was last seen the day before by a neighbour at around 6.30pm. She said her "charismatic and loving" son, who was a talented musician, had struggled with addiction and mental health but had been in a good place in the weeks prior to his passing and had recently started a new job. Although she was unaware of the extent of her son's drug use, believing he only took alcohol and cannabis. In the months following his death, Gillian accessed her son's laptop and saw from his search history that Jay had been searching about the effects of certain drugs and crypto payments and later handed it over to police. The inquest heard that there was evidence of drug use throughout Jay's apartment along with packaging that appeared to show that drugs had been delivered to him. Detective Duffin told the inquest that due to the nature of dark web websites, it was not possible to find out where the drugs had been sent from or if Jay had attempted to purchase something else other than nitazenes. He said that he is aware of cases in the UK where people have died from nitazene overdoses but had believed they were taking benzodiazepines. The toxicology report found that there were a number of drugs in Jay's system at the time of his death, which included nitazenes, methamphetamine, MDMA and cannabis, however it was determined that the nitazenes were the primary factor. Pathologist Dr Egan told the inquest that the combination of nitazenes and methamphetamines could lead to an "unpredictable" outcome. Gillian McCann told the inquest that Jay's passing has had a devastating impact on their family, particularly Jay's teenage son, however they feel no shame in the way that he died and are now outspoken about the need for greater addiction and mental health support in Northern Ireland. Closing the inquest, Coroner Toal expressed her sympathies to Jay's family and thanked everyone who had given evidence. She issued a stark warning about the dangers of nitazenes, which have only appeared in NI over the last two years, and buying drugs off the dark web saying that what people think they are buying, may not be what they are getting. For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our politics newsletter here.
