‘Paranoid’ George Kay complained of seeing ‘shadows and wasps’ as he wandered hotel corridors before cocaine death
KERRY Katona’s “paranoid” ex-husband George Kay complained of seeing “shadows and wasps” before eating a ball of cocaine in front of staff at a Holiday Inn, an inquest heard today.
The 39-year-old, who was married to the reality TV star for three years, collapsed and died after a seizure at the hotel in Sutton Weaver, Cheshire in 2019.
Staff at the hotel say he tried to return to his room after wandering corridors but initially refused because he thought that “wasps” or another person was in his room.
An inquest in Warrington today heard a worker saw Mr Kay pull a large ball of “white powder” from a sock in his pants before eating it.
The former rugby league player collapsed with a fatal seizure – and was rushed to hospital but died later due to the excess effects of the toxic substance.
The inquest heard there was some dispute over how much cocaine he had in his room the day before he fell ill when police were called to the hotel.
Hotel staff reported seeing four large “pinches” on the bathroom sink or half a tea-spoon full.
But the next morning one staff member saw George produce a large ball of “white powder” from a sock in his pants before eating it.
George then fell in and was taken to hospital, where he later died.
Cheshire Police said cocaine worth £100 with a high purity was found in the room.
PC Declan Corcoran said: ”The hotel staff were concerned about a male wandering around and banging on doors refusing to go back to his room.
”When we got there, he was quite calm. He understand that he had been taking drugs. He said he had taken the substance in the bathroom about one hour ago.
“He said he had been seeing shadows and that he saw wasps in his room. He realised he had been hallucinating.
“He said he was struggling with his mental health because of issues in his personal life. He admitted to taking cocaine that evening.”
‘COCAINE BINGE’
A policewoman, who cannot be named, said: ”It looked like he had sniffed a line of cocaine off the side of the sink. If there was 1/2 a teaspoon of cocaine, I would have taken it as analysis but there wasn’t much there at all.
”I did not believe it was enough to arrest him for possession of drugs.
“The remnants of cocaine were left in the bathroom. I was mainly concerned about his welfare.”
Luke Smith, a food and beverage supervisor at the hotel, told the inquest: “I saw white powder in the bathroom.
“The following morning he needed housekeeping to let him back into his room. He pulled out a sock with a large ball and was sat in a chair.
“He caused the ball to crumble by crushing it and I believed it was drugs. He became very unwell, so we put him in the recovery position and called an ambulance.”
The coroner said that Mr Smith had earlier told a police watchdog investigation: “It was a large white ball shape, he believed it was drugs.”
He then described Mr Kay biting into the ball which “continued to crumble.”
The coroner said George left his hotel room during the night so it was possible he may have gone to purchase more drugs.
Mr Kay met Kerry when they were at school together but started dating in 2012 after bumping into each other in Warrington.
They married in September 2014, five months after she had their daughter Dylan-Jorge, now seven, but split in 2015 and divorced two years later.
Earlier a family member said: “The drugs taking increased during his time with his wife (Kerry).
“And it got significantly worse when he was stopped from seeing his child.”
Mr Kay had been knocking on another guests door. He was behaving in a paranoid and erratic way
Craig Ponsford
The incident began on July 5 2019 after Mr Kay was seen acting erratically and knocking on other doors at the hotel.
Staff called police and officers attended at 9.54pm but left when Mr Kay agreed to return to his room.
Barman Michael Hulme said: ”Mr Kay was behaving in an erratic manner and the manager was present encouraging him to go back to his room.
“He was not a threat but he was unpredictable. He asked for cocaine and was told he couldn’t have it.
”We got him to his room and he appeared to be making no sense. He said he had family at the hotel, which we knew wasn’t the case and I saw some type of white powder in the bathroom which I thought might be cocaine.”
Manager Craig Ponsford said: ”Mr Kay had been knocking on another guests door. He was behaving in a paranoid and erratic way.
“He said he was at the hotel for a family function, but we knew was wasn’t true. He kept saying he wanted someone to be his friend.
“We got him to his room and there was around 1/2 teaspoon of white powder in the bathroom. He had calmed down by now and seemed okay and asked for a pizza.
“I was asking police about on what grounds we could get him removed as I was concerned about his mental health. They said there was no grounds to get him removed.”
TRAGIC ORDEAL
Mr Kay’s mum Hilary said: ”He had taken recreational drugs from a young age and I was aware of his drug taking in May 2019.
”He had a social life which involves various celebrity friends and they would provide money and there was talk about helping him set up a business abroad.
“He took a trip to Australia to watch a Rugby tournament. He had a lovely time and was not taking any drugs or alcohol at that time. There has been occasions in the past where he had become agitated from his drug usage.
“He knew he had problems but he was a lovely lad who made friends easily. He was kind and would do anything to help anyone. He had personal difficulties which may have increased his drug taking.”
Recording a verdict of drug-related death, coroner Peter Sigee said: ”Police officers were called to attend because Mr Kay was behaving in an effective manner.
“He admitted to taking drugs, he was calm and police did not consider it lawful to arrest or search him. They did not think he required an urgent medical assessment and they left.
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”On the morning of 6 July, he was seen to eat a quantity of cocaine and then collapse.
“It is not possible to say now he came into possession of the cocaine he took on that morning but I am satisfied the death was drug related.”
Earlier this year Kerry, 40, told of her ‘anger’ over George’s ‘selfish’ addiction that has left Dylan-Jorge without a father.
