Man died from alcohol after being left in car
A Bradford father-of-four died after he was left in a car to "sleep off" a heavy drinking session by friends who did not check on him for several hours.
Umar Aziz, 35, from Manningham, had been socialising in a car lock-up owned by one of the men before he was found unconscious inside his vehicle in May 2021, Bradford Coroner's Court heard.
Two of the men returned the next day, found Mr Aziz unresponsive and started CPR while waiting for an ambulance, but he was pronounced dead at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
An inquest ruled on Friday that Mr Aziz died from alcohol poisoning after he drank one-and-a-half bottles of brandy.
'Inconsistent accounts'
Post-mortem tests showed he had 330mg of alcohol in his system - four times over the drink-drive limit of 80mg.
The inquest was told how the young father had gone to a compound on Rebecca Street just before midnight on Saturday 22 May, after leaving the takeaway he owned.
He gave two £20 notes to one of his friends to buy him two bottles of Hennessy brandy, which he then began drinking neat from a plastic cup.
At around 02:40 BST he began being sick and just after 03:00 he was put in the back of his car by three of his friends before the group left the lock-up.
Two of the men returned just after midday and found Mr Aziz unresponsive.
CCTV footage showed one of the men pouring liquid from a Lucozade bottle into Mr Aziz's mouth, but it was never established what it was.
West Yorkshire Police investigated but no charges were brought.
Senior coroner Martin Fleming noted that footage from the men's mobile phones taken on the night had been deleted and that there were inconsistencies in their witness accounts, but all of them had been under the influence of drink and drugs at the time of the incident.
The inquest heard that at no stage was Mr Aziz put under pressure or duress to drink alcohol, was not egged on, and that there was no “drinking game” taking place.
A cause of death was given as acute alcohol intoxication.
Mr Fleming said it could not be conclusively ascertained whether Mr Aziz would have survived if medical attention had been sought earlier.
He said it was more than likely that Mr Aziz, who had a history of binge drinking, had misjudged the toxicity of the brandy, with fatal consequences.
Mr Aziz's father Mohabbat was at the hearing along with other family members, including Mr Aziz's wife.
Addressing the family, the coroner said: "To lose a beloved son, a husband, a father to four children under these unexpected circumstances must be so very hard to bear."
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