A FORMER soldier who was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder died when a wrap of cocaine hidden in his rectum burst open.

Geraint Llyr Jones, of Upper Ala Road, Pwllheli, took ill at his home on Sunday, 6 September, last year, and suffered two cardiac arrests after accidentally ingesting the Class A drug.

The former Royal Welch Fusilier was hiding the cocaine in cling film, but didn’t realise the wrap had leaked inside his rectum until it was too late.

An inquest into the 32-year-old’s death at Caernarfon last Wednesday heard how Mr Jones had been in serious discomfort before he died.

In a statement read out at the hearing, girlfriend Allison Wright explained how she feared the Iraq veteran had been taking drugs.

“Geraint wasn’t able to sleep at all during the night,” she said. “He was sitting on the sofa in the lounge and he was sweating profusely.

“I could see the sweat falling from his forehead to the floor. I suspected he had been taking drugs so I told him to leave because I do not allow those sorts of things in my house.”

Miss Wright let her boyfriend back into the house, but he continued to act in an uncharacteristic manner.

“He was putting his hand down the back of his trousers,” she said. “He was doing something around his back side. I noticed Geraint was very pale in the face.”

Mr Jones told his girlfriend that he had been taking mephedrone, but it appears he soon realised what was really making him feel so ill.

Miss Wright saw him remove the cling film package of white powder from the inside of his trousers.

She said: “Geraint went into the bathroom, into the bath, and began cleaning his backside.”

Mr Jones soon collapsed and appeared to be having a fit, according to his girlfriend, but paramedics later told her he had suffered a cardiac arrest.

When the medics arrived at the property, they managed to resuscitate the former soldier, but he had another cardiac arrest in the ambulance and was declared dead at 1.17pm.

Pathologist Dr Mark Lord told the inquest his post-mortem examination revealed an “area of haemorrhage and congestion in the rectum” and that toxicology tests showed the presence of cocaine in Mr Jones’ system.

Dr Lord said the veteran may have taken mephedrone, but that it was the cocaine that killed him.

“This kind of drug can easily be absorbed by the rectum,” he said.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones gave the cause of death as cocaine poisoning.

He said: “What appears to me to have happened is that the wrap of white powder had leaked into the soft tissue within his bottom and he died as a result of that.”

Mr Jones was on bail at the time of his death after pleading guilty to charges of obstructing a police officer, common assault and criminal damage following an incident at the Wetherspoon Pen Cob pub in June.

He was expected to be sentenced at Caernarfon Magistrates’ Court a week after he died and had been receiving help from the CAIS rehabilitation service as he dealt with a drink problem and his post-traumatic stress disorder.