Drugs found on dead British tourist

By David Ochami

Police say they found a number of drugs on British tourist and aristocrat Alexander Monson, who died at a Kwale hospital on Saturday.

Mr Monson was in police custody for possession of cannabis sativa.

But the alleged discovery of what is believed to be prescription drugs is bound to generate new questions about the circumstances of his death and his personal lifestyle because the drugs police allege they found on him are used to treat ailments and perform procedures Monson was not, publicly, associated with.

Now Kwale police plan an inquest under a magistrate’s order to determine circumstances leading to his death at Palm Beach Hospital, moments after falling ill at Diani Police Station cells. Their commander says any officer who handled and processed the Briton will be questioned for statements for the inquest.

Kwale OCPD Richard Muguai on Thursday denied reports by the deceased’s friends in the Daily Mail suggesting the 28-year-old heir to the Monson baronetcy could have died from negligence or some form of brutality.

fell ill

Mr Muguai provided a version of events that indicates Kwale police tried all they could to save Monson’s life after he fell ill.

Muguai acknowledged that Monson, who entered Kenya on April 23 according to the British press, was arrested at Tanduri Night Club in Kwale smoking bhang.

He was detained for the night awaiting drug possession charges on Monday when he fell ill and was taken to hospital.

The OCPD claimed that other drug pellets and tablets were later found on Monson and classified by medical experts as Tadalafel, Ketamine and Diazepam.

“We have taken all these (drugs) to the Government Chemist to determine what they were and what they are for,” said the OCPD, who also alleged that the body was taken to Pandya Memorial Hospital in Mombasa where an autopsy was done.

Muguai disclosed that Kenyan police also took blood and tissue samples for analysis at the Government Chemist in readiness for the inquest he says is now underway.

According to the Daily Mail, Monson “lived in London but spent much of the year in Kenya with his mother Hilary, 58, and sister Isabella, 25”. Members of his family operate “the Four Twenty South complex of self-catering cottages in Diani, where accommodation can cost up to £800 (Sh107,000) a night”.