The widow of Bafta winning writer Nick Fisher has criticised the police for carrying out a "shoddy" search for her husband claiming their "huge mistake" meant he was not found in time to save his life.

Helen Fisher also criticised, at an inquest into his death, the NHS for prescribing her husband, who she described as a "lifelong drug addict", with opioid drugs without informing the family.

The Bournemouth hearing was told that Mr Fisher, a friend of celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, disappeared from his home in Hooke, near Beaminster, on November 15 last year.

As well as working with the River Cottage chef, the 63-year-old scriptwriter and author wrote scripts for EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, Hustle and The Giblet Boys.

He had left saying that he was going to walk his springer spaniel dog and to get something from a boat he kept at West Bay.

Mrs Fisher told the court that she alerted Dorset Police who launched a missing person's inquiry but it was her son, Rex, who found her husband's car outside the Wessex Royale Hotel in Dorchester two days later.

She said that despite handing over her husband's phone with his Pin, the police had failed to examine its internet history which showed searches for the hotel.

Mr Fisher was found dead at the hotel and a post-mortem examination carried out by pathologist Dr Robert Blahut showed he died of a fatal dose of tramadol and morphine.

Mrs Fisher said that she was initially only told by police of the overdose but was later informed over the phone that her husband was found to have possibly tried to asphyxiate himself as well.

She also criticised Dr Blahut for the "unforgivable" mistake in his post-mortem report which stated her husband still had a gallbladder despite this having been removed previously.

She said that her husband had died on the second day at the hotel and added: "Had we had his phone we would have been able to find out his Google search history and gone straight to the hotel and he would have had his stomach pumped and he would have lived."

Mrs Fisher said that police later told her that they had not been able to access his phone despite her having given them his Pin.

She added the police report into his death included a mistake on the false alias given by her husband when he booked into the hotel saying he had given the name "Nick Fuller" when he actually said: "Nigel Fuller".

Mrs Fisher described the investigation as an "ordeal" and described the police probe as "appalling" and "shoddy" saying that they claimed to have found her husband when it was her son.

She said: "The fact they could not even get his false alias correct is appalling.

"The fact they had his phone and a simple download of his last search history would have found him alive is another huge mistake.

"The NHS giving prescription of an opioid drug to an addict with no questions asked, how can that possibly happen, it's unbelievable, with no family member being alerted.

"Is that really how it goes, you can prescribe opioids to a known heroin addict and family members aren't alerted?

"I am finding the whole thing disappointing at every level.

"At the same time, he was a grown man and was able to make his own decision and it was a decision he took and I have to respect that."

Dr Blahut apologised to Mrs Fisher for the error on his report.

He said that the toxicology report showed Mr Fisher had fatal levels of an opioid and morphine in his system and said this was the cause of death.

He added that a low-level of alcohol in his blood as well as the apparent asphyxiation bid had not contributed to his death.

Mrs Fisher told the hearing: "Nick was a life-long addict, he managed to keep his addictions primarily under control but he was an impulsive, decisive person but made very poor decisions in his life on many occasions.

"He was instantly likeable, he had a knack of putting people at ease.

"He was always commented on being a good listener. He was fiercely private, extremely intelligent and had a love of life."

Mrs Fisher said her husband of more than 30 years had undergone two periods of private rehab to fight his addictions.

She said: "He would class himself as an intravenous heroin addict. He was an alcoholic.

"He rarely did both together, he tended to go down the drugs route and then put that aside and then go down the drinks route, then when things got crashingly awful then he would do both.

"He was a smoker, he did dope, he snorted lines of cocaine, he gathered magic mushrooms.

"He loved pills and you didn't stand between him and his pills and if he thought he could hoodwink, coerce, persuade the NHS to provide him drugs it made it more the easier for him to take pills, to take his drugs.

"'Thank you NHS' is how he would put it, I am sure."

She added: "He was a risk-taker in life but he was an addict and someone who was very convincing to appear normal.

"He could drive, he could operate a chainsaw, he could take his boat in and out of the harbour single-handed.

"He could cope but that doesn't mean he wasn't self-medicating, most people wouldn't dream of operating a chainsaw after popping four tramadol pills."

Mrs Fisher said her husband had been admitted to hospital for pancreatitis and gallbladder issues and back surgery after which he was prescribed opioids.

She said that despite his drug addiction history "people were still happy to hand over pills and liquid morphine and I had to take a certain amount of control."

Mrs Fisher said that six weeks before his death, her husband started openly drinking for the first time.

She added that her husband had got into a "muddle" over the pills he was taking.

Mrs Fisher said that on the day he disappeared, her husband was "stressed" about an accident involving a fishing boat he owned at Brixham which had damaged some scallop nets when driven by its skipper and he feared he would be sued.

She said she alerted the police because his disappearance was out of character but she did not believe he would harm himself despite a previous "serious suicide attempt".

She added: "As a lifelong addict he behaved irrationally, he had no fear of death, it wasn't something that worried him like most people."

The hearing continues

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