A 20-year-old British man has died in Dubai after a bag of cocaine he swallowed before boarding a flight burst inside his stomach.
Jensen Westhead, from Thornton Cleveleys in Lancashire, ingested several packages of cocaine at a Manchester hotel on December 2 last year before flying to Dubai. He arrived in the United Arab Emirates the following day but suffered a fatal overdose when at least one of the packets ruptured internally. He was later found dead at the Hotel Avalon on December 4.
Lancashire Police have since charged four people in connection with his death after a detailed investigation. Rebecca Hatch, 43, Glenn Hatch, 50, Alexander Tofton, 32, and Steven Stephenson, 36, are accused of conspiring to fraudulently evade the prohibition on exporting a Class A drug between November 21 and December 4, 2024.
Stephenson faces an additional charge of being involved in the supply of cocaine. All four defendants are expected to appear before Lancaster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, October 31.
In a statement, Lancashire Police confirmed the charges and reiterated that the case followed Jensen’s tragic death after the cocaine packets he had swallowed burst mid-journey, leading to an overdose in Dubai.
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