The family of a former City worker have blamed cannabis for ‘devastating’ his mind before he fell to his death from a block of flats.
Aaron Dover, 42, had smoked potent forms of the drug since he was 15 and his mother believes its effects ultimately led to his death.
The Cambridge-educated IT expert worked for banks including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse before being gripped by mental illness.
After three years of psychotic episodes which isolated him from his wife and family, he locked himself inside a friend’s home in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and fell from the balcony.
Aaron Dover, 42, had smoked potent forms of the drug since he was 15 and his mother believes its effects ultimately led to his death
Details of the tragedy came as experts warned yet again of the long-term dangers of cannabis abuse. Researchers found users are more prone to violent crime.
Despite this a number of figures, including Nick Clegg, Richard Branson and Sting have backed a campaign for drug laws to be relaxed.
Yesterday Mr Dover’s mother Jenny, 69, of Hampstead, north London, said cannabis played a key role in his decline and warned others the Class B drug was not ‘harmless’.
‘Aaron smoked it since he was 15 and people do not realise how dangerous it can be to someone’s mental health,’ she said.
‘The effect on the brain of taking cannabis over a long period of time can have this devastating effect. Aaron had been to Cambridge and was a high flyer academically.
‘He was very successful in the City before he became ill. This could happen to anyone.’
Mr Dover enjoyed a 19-year City career after studying physics at St John’s College, Cambridge and University College, London.
After three years of psychotic episodes which isolated him from his wife and family, Aaron locked himself inside a friend’s home in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and fell from the balcony. Yesterday Mr Dover’s mother Jenny, 69, of Hampstead, north London, said cannabis played a key role in his decline and warned others the Class B drug was not ‘harmless’
But in 2013 he suffered his first psychotic episode and his mental health rapidly deteriorated with erratic and paranoid behaviour.
Last year he fled to Thailand after he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He took health chiefs to court to force them to release him, telling friends he was locked in the ‘Hannibal Lecter ward’ at Highgate Mental Health Centre in London. While abroad his health continued to decline.
Mrs Dover told North London Coroner’s Court of the last conversations she had with her son. ‘He still had totally delusional ideas,’ she said. ‘He thought he was going to be penniless and locked up for 20 years in prison if he came back to this country. He thought that if I visited him I was going to bring the police with me.’
Mr Dover was admitted to hospital in the Far East before travelling to Kuala Lumpur in March to stay with a friend.
Mr Dover was also said to have written a note to the girlfriend of the man he was staying with saying: ‘I just want to die’. On March 16, he fell to his death from an apartment balcony.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Petros Lekkos, of the Camden Mental Health Team, said cannabis played a part in his mental illness. He said: ‘The earlier one starts it, it can affect the adolescent brain more.’ Coroner Andrew Walker recorded a verdict of death by a fall.