Chef 'took drink and drug cocktail'

A top London chef who worked for Gordon Ramsay had a huge amount of cocaine in his system when he went on a bizarre rampage that saw him fall to his death, an inquest heard today.

David Dempsey, 31, a "genius" protege of the famous restaurateur, borrowed £3,000 from his boss in the months before breaking in at a Chelsea apartment block.

He was found dead at the bottom of the block in Elm Park Gardens after smashing a window to get into one flat at the front and then climbing on window ledges at the back. He also apparently wrestled with an American resident who said he tried to take back a golf club Mr Dempsey had used to break the window.

Dempsey, head chef at the Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's Restaurant, had 1.36 milligrams of cocaine per litre of blood in his body when he fell from the second floor of the flats.

Mr Ramsay told today's hearing that since Mr Dempsey's move to the capital to work at Claridge's he had run into financial problems and had difficulties with his staff.

Mr Ramsay said "six months prior to his death David had bought the flat and he was financially slightly tight so the restaurant, like all management, lent him some money." He added: "I think it was £3,000." Mr Ramsay also described Mr Dempsey as not good with money.

Nikolas Lemos, head of toxicology at St George's Hospital said a level of 0.9 milligrams per litre of blood "can cause death by itself."

Dr Lemos said the level of the drug combined with a small amount of alcohol also in Mr Dempsey's system could have affected his "psyco-motor ability and induced a cocaine-excited delirium" which contributed to his death.

Dr Lemos said "To a toxicologist it would not be surprising that a person with that much cocaine in his body would behave in an unusual manner." He added that the cocaine could have been taken any time from two minutes to 48 hours before the £50,000 a year chef 's death.

The effects of the drug would have been "multiplied" if he was a novice user.

Mr Ramsay told Westminster Coroners Court that he had dinner with Mr Dempsey on Saturday 3 May, the evening before he died. He said Mr Dempsey "was not 100 per cent David". He added: "He was a bit agitated. He was a guy that for me was looking as if he was under pressure."

The inquest heard that Mr Dempsey , a father of two children - one with his current partner and and one from a previous relationship - had worked for Mr Ramsay since 1998 before moving to London last February from Glasgow where he had run the Amaryllis restaurant.

Dr Lemos was then cross-examined by John Cooper, who represents Mr Dempsey's family. Mr Cooper said it was the first time the family had heard this information having been been told they could not have details of the toxicology report before the inquest.

Dr Lemos said it was impossible for him to pinpoint exactly when Mr Dempsey took the cocaine and alcohol, but he added: "On blood levels I believe Mr Dempsey had been exposed to cocaine up to 48 hours before his death. However, the urine suggests also he had perhaps previously been exposed up to 10 days beforehand."

He added it could be "two days or two minutes," but he could not say exactly when Mr Dempsey took the cocktail.

Dr Lemos, the head of forensic toxicology at St George's, said: "I have gathered it causes profound central nervous stimulation including psychosis, respiratory paralysis and death."

Mr Cooper asked: "It would not cause anyone to go on a, and I quote, ' rampage'?"

Dr Lemos replied: "I would have to know whether this person was an experienced or novice cocaine user. However, this level was significant."

Earlier, Mr Dempsey's mother, Eileen, who lives in Glasgow and wore a pendant with a photo of her dead son, said she had never seen him take any drugs.

The inquest continues.