A 20-year-old man died with an “excessive” level of cocaine and “catastrophic” brain injuries after collapsing at a police station in Newtown, an inquest has heard.

Dylan Garbe Ashton was rushed to hospital after he suffered a seizure, and fell backwards hitting his head on the floor of the custody suite at Newtown Police shortly after midnight on Saturday, November 23, 2019. He died that afternoon at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with his partner at his side.

A jury inquest at Welshpool Town Hall on Tuesday (September 21) heard that a warrant was issued for Mr Garbe Ashton’s arrest for breaching a community order. Officers patrolling Newtown town centre spotted him at a petrol station in Pool Road at around 11.40pm on Friday, November 22.

Police constables Elin Green and Peter Richards approached Mr Garbe Ashton in the forecourt, and he appeared “calm and co-operative”. He was arrested at around 11.50pm and escorted to the back of a police van. Both officers told the jurors that there had been no obvious signs that he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and they had no concerns of his wellbeing at that time.

Mr Garbe Ashton was uncuffed shortly after arriving in the custody suite at Newtown Police Station at around 12.06am on Saturday morning. Jurors watched camera footage of the custody suite which showed Mr Garbe Ashton coughing, retching and placing his head and hands on the custody sergeant’s desk.

PC Richards said: “He started to put his fingers down his throat. He didn’t say why. It didn’t concern me because people do strange things in the custody suite. Afterwards he became agitated then settled down again.”

Three minutes and 43 seconds after arriving at the custody suite, Mr Garbe Ashton began to shake and have a seizure before falling to the floor with a “loud bang”.

“I tried to grab him to stop him from falling but he had already fallen by that time. There was nothing about his demeanour that suggested he was about to fit,” PC Richards added.

An emergency button was activated to alert other officers in the building. CPR was administered on Mr Garbe Ashton for around 30 minutes while they waited for paramedics and fire crews to arrive.

The inquest continues.