A playboy who tried to blackmail the Royal Family killed himself by taking a lethal cocktail of drugs, an inquest heard.
Ian Strachan was found dead on Christmas Eve just hours after seeing his mum at his plush flat in Marylebone, central London, the hearing was told.
Strachan, originally from Aberdeen and also known as Paul Adalsteinsson, grew up in Aberdeen and attended the city’s Grammar School.
He was jailed in May 2008 with co-accused Sean McGuigan for demanding £50,000 from an unnamed male member of the Royal Family for tapes in which a staff member made lurid claims against him.
Strachan and McGuigan had threatened to expose the royal if he did not pay up. But Strachan claimed he was the victim of a smear campaign.
He was sentenced to five years in May 2008 but released after 22 months.
Yesterday an inquest into his death heard he had registered to three separate practices, two GPs and a private clinic to feed his prescription drug habit.
Witnesses claimed Strachan used different names – including Paul Stein – to obtain a vast variety of prescription drugs.
He had previously had his left leg amputated following a 30 ft fall from a balcony in 2013, when he also shattered his pelvis.
Witnesses said he had been visiting numerous hospitals – including Chelsea and Westminster and St Thomas’ – for surgery.
While in Dubai in 2015 a row erupted with authorities over a crashed Audi R8 and he spent 10 months in the Gulf country before making a daring escape via Iran, he told his GP.
But, back in Britain last year, he suffered two heart attacks induced by his heavy cocaine usage and became increasingly violent towards his mother, the inquest heard.
He regularly took cocaine and drank heavily to cope with the phantom pain from his amputation, the inquest heard.
And on Christmas Eve he was found collapsed in his flat after consuming a cocktail of prescription drugs mixed with milk.
The inquest heard in the hours before his death he had become aggressive and sent texts to his mum.
The text messages read: “You want a body, you have got one.
“It will be a different day tomorrow, I won’t be here.”
Westminster Coroner’s Court heard he was pronounced dead at 6.41pm on Christmas Eve as a result of respiratory failure due to multi drug poisoning.
