'Bad heroin' claims eighth victim

Police officers say the deaths may be related

An eighth person has died in London after taking what is believed to be contaminated heroin.

The latest death was discovered on Thursday when the body of a man was found in Plumstead, south-east London.

Police said they were concerned for another man who was last seen at the address on Tuesday.

In November, four drug users in Lambeth and Ilford died, and last week three people in Hackney were found dead. Officers say the deaths may be linked.

Particularly lethal

Detectives in Ilford east London, said the batch of drugs was "particularly lethal".

A spokesman for Greenwich police, who are investigating the death in Plumstead, said: "Although a cause of death has yet to be determined, we strongly believe it to be drug related and consequently are investigating the possibility that a 'contaminated batch' of drugs, maybe heroin, is in circulation."

The first deaths were reported early in November when one man in Stockwell and one in Kennington, both in Lambeth, south London, were found dead.

A few days later two men were found dead at an address in Ilford, east London. One victim was found clutching a syringe.

Bacterial infection

And last week, two men and a woman died in Hackney.

Harry Shapiro, from the drug charity DrugScope, said it was likely the deaths were a result of the same bad batch of heroin.

"Every so often you do seem to get these cluster of deaths around the country and they are often linked to the same bad batch," he said.

"Normally, it is because the heroin is very strong and not what the addicts are normally used to.

"But heroin can also be infected when it is stored underground and it picks up soil bacteria."