Joe Harker
Four people have been charged with drug offences after a 20-year-old Brit was found dead in his Dubai hotel room last year from a cocaine overdose.
Lancashire Police say that Jensen Westhead, of Thornton Cleveleys, was found dead at the Hotel Avalon in Dubai on 4 December, 2024.
According to authorities, the 20-year-old had swallowed several bags of cocaine at a Manchester hotel on 2 December before boarding a flight from Manchester Airport and arriving in Dubai the following day.
Police explained that one of the bags of cocaine which Westhead had swallowed 'burst in his stomach' and he suffered an overdose which resulted in his death.
Found dead in his hotel the day after arriving in Dubai, a lengthy police investigation into the Brit's death has resulted in four people being charged.
In a statement, Lancashire Police said that four people had been charged in connection with the case after what they described as a 'complex' investigation, and one of those had also been charged with another offence.
Police explained that Rebecca Hatch, 43, and Glenn Hatch, 50, both of Hatfield Close, Thornton Cleveleys, along with Alexander Tofton, 32, of Tewkesbury Drive, Lytham St Annes and Steven Stephenson, 36, of St Lawrence Road, Denton, Manchester, have been charged with conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on exportation of a class A drug from 21 November and 4 December, 2024.
The police added that Stephenson had 'also been charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine' and that all four were scheduled to appear before Lancaster Magistrates' Court on 31 October.
Dubai has harsh punishments for suspected drug smugglers, as Merseyside woman Mia O'Brien was jailed for life after being 'caught with cocaine in an apartment'.
The woman was charged with 'drug dealing', sentenced to life imprisonment and fined £100,000 when she was convicted in a one-day hearing in July.
Her family says she made a 'stupid mistake' and was now being kept in 'horrendous' conditions in prison.
Danielle McKenna, O'Brien's mum, said: "There are no staff really and she has to bang on a big door if she needs anything, she's seen fights and said she has been really scared."
The family insists the 23-year-old is 'innocent' and is hoping she'll be offered clemency or be allowed to serve her sentence back in the UK instead, with McKenna saying she fears her daughter has 'destroyed her life'.