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Llanelli Star
Posted: May 01, 2013
By Llanelli Star
THE partner of a Llangennech dad-of-two has paid tribute to her “soulmate” — who died from a cocktail of alcohol and painkillers.
Phillip Edward Desmond Thomas, pictured, was aged 38 when he passed away on February 13 this year.
Following his inquest on Friday, Amanda Dunn, 40, has spoken openly about how her partner of six years thought he was “invincible” and warned of the devastating effects of mixing drugs with alcohol.
Miss Dunn, of Llys Cennech, Llangennech, said: “He was my soulmate — he was the ying to my yang.
“He thought he was invincible, but he has left me, his two daughters Sara and Angharad and his stepdaughter.
“He’s left behind loads of people who loved him. He is going to be really, really, really, sadly missed — I can’t emphasise that enough.”
At an inquest into Mr Thomas’s death at Llanelli Town Hall, coroner Mark Layton recorded a verdict of accidental death.
He confirmed, following the postmortem results, that Mr Thomas had died of cardio-respiratory failure.
The inquest heard that this was brought on by the combined effect of alcohol and medication.
Postmortem blood test results recorded 223 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of Mr Thomas’s blood — more than two and a half times the legal limit to drive, the inquest heard.
Mr Layton added that also present in Mr Thomas’s bloodstream was a mix of diazepam, tramadol, temazepam and amitriptyline, as well as traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) one of two active ingredients in cannabis.
“Alcohol is the worst drug going, and it’s legal,” Miss Dunn said.
“It was his downfall.”
Miss Dunn said that she had told him many times to “calm down” his drinking as she did not want to have to tell his children and his grandma that he was dead.
She said: “It’s not just the person that dies, it’s the family as well — he’s a big loss, a very sad loss.
“He was amazing — my daughter loved him and she had started calling him daddy.”
Since the inquest, Miss Dunn said that Mr Thomas’s family, which she is still very close to, has felt some relief.
Miss Dunn plans to scatter her partner’s ashes on his birthday, June 20, at Swiss Valley reservoir.
“He used to go up there with his girls,” she said.
“He always used to tell me that he wanted to be scattered up there.”