(Image: Mike Tipping)
A convicted York killer died after collapsing in a street, an inquest has heard.
Steven John Stone, 46, was airlifted to York Hospital on April 15 and, despite efforts to save his life, was pronounced dead in hospital at 11.51am that day, coroner John Heath said.
Mr Heath concluded Mr Stone, who was jailed for three years in 2006 for the manslaughter of Michael Williams, died from drugs and alcohol.
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The coroner said a post-mortem examination found Mr Stone, of Chapelfields Road, had a fatal dose of methadone in his system.
It also revealed Mr Stone had pregabalin, a drug used to treat epilepsy, anxiety and nerve pain, of a higher dose than for therapeutic use in his system, Mr Heath said.
Mr Stone’s cause of death was given as methadone and pregabalin toxicity, followed by liver cirrhosis – a severe stage of liver disease – because of alcohol use.
The inquest heard Mr Stone struggled with drug use since the 1990s and with his mental health.
But Mr Heath said he did not find any evidence that Mr Stone intended to end his life.
Mr Stone pleaded guilty to manslaughter and affray after fatally injuring Mr Williams, a 33-year-old father-of-four from Chapelfields, in 2006.
Steven John Stone, then 27, after he was jailed for manslaughter and affray in 2006
Mr Williams was punched to the ground during an argument, causing him to fall back and strike his head on the pavement. He died days later.
Mr Williams’ family, backed by then York MP Hugh Bayley, campaigned to ban Mr Stone from the city, which he was until 2009.
The family also campaigned for Mr Stone’s 2006 sentence to be extended, with support from Mr Bayley, but lost their battle after the Attorney General withdrew a decision to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.
In 2017, York magistrates heard Mr Stone had continued the kind of street fighting that led to him fatally injuring Mr Williams.
Mr Stone was before the magistrates’ court for throwing punches at another man outside McDonald's in Blake Street in the early hours of June 30, 2017.
Prosecutor Cathy Turnbull said of the incident in Blake Street: “It is a quite lengthy violent incident. It was the kind of street violence, punching in the street, which resulted in the affray and the death.”
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Mr Stone pleaded guilty to a public order offence and was given a 12-month community order with a 14-week nightly curfew between 7am and 7pm and 15 days' rehabilitative activities. He was also ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a statutory £85 surcharge.
For Mr Stone, Steve Munro said he had been out drinking with another man and as a result of an incident in McDonald's that had nothing to do with him, the pair had got involved in an argument.
“It was a stupid argument that got out of control,” he said. “He regrets it. He apologises to the court and to the members of the public who were there on that day.”
Mr Stone suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of the manslaughter in 2006 and had tried to keep out of trouble since and put his past behind him, the court was told in 2017.