Police warn of heroin death link

Police make arrests as more heroin users die

The deaths of three more heroin users in the past week could be linked to a spate of similar deaths across Britain, police have warned.

Three men were arrested after the body of 45-year-old Derek Anderson was found in Woverhampton, West Midlands, on Saturday morning.

West Midlands Police are investigating whether the deaths of Mr Anderson, and two other people from Wolverhampton, could be linked with an unknown illness that has killed 36 heroin users in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dublin, Liverpool and Manchester.

People are playing with their lives

Superintendent John Colston

Mr Anderson and the other victims, who died in hospital, showed similar symptoms to victims of the illness.

Detectives are questioning two men on suspicion of murder and one on suspicion of supplying heroin in connection with Mr Anderson's death.

A fourth person is being sought in connection with the supply of drugs to Mr Anderson.

Police said toxicologists had not yet established the cause of the three deaths, but warned contaminated heroin appeared to be circulating in the region.

Superintendent John Colston, of West Midlands Police, said there was a strong suggestion the deaths could be related to the other fatalities.

"We are warning those individuals who feel that they have to use heroin that there is now adulterated heroin being sold in the Midlands and people are playing with their lives," he said.

Scientists baffled

It is suspected the mystery illness is caused by anaerobic bacteria which live in the absence of oxygen and the specimens are being tested for this.

Scientists in Britain, Ireland and the United States have been exchanging information in an effort to discover the reason for the infection as the death toll continues to rise.

There are hopes that a solution may be found by the end of next week.

The condition appears to affect heroin addicts who inject the drug into the muscle or under the skin, rather than into a vein.

Victims suffer a septicaemia-type illness and need intensive care, but some die from multiple organ failure within hours.

Victims have been injecting into muscle

Experts are investigating the cases of further heroin users across the UK and Ireland who are showing similar symptoms.

A spokesman for Greater Glasgow Health Board, which is coordinating investigations into the mystery illness, said it had been made aware of the Wolverhampton deaths by police.

"Those deaths are still being investigated to establish if they are linked to the Glasgow and Dublin outbreaks," he said. "As yet that investigation is incomplete."

On Friday, the NHS Executive North-West said it had identified nine cases in Liverpool and Manchester over the past month, of which five had died.

It confirmed the cases were being linked to the fatalities in Scotland and Dublin.

Specimens from the most recent Glasgow cases are being tested at specialist laboratories in the UK and at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.