SHEIKH DIED AFTER HEROIN OVERDOSE

The eldest son of the ruler of Sharjah died of a heroin overdose at his
family's English country estate, an inquest was told. Sheikh Mohammed bin
Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi was found on the floor of his bathroom,
surrounded by syringes and a tie strapped as a tourniquet around his arm.

The ruling family of Sharjah, part of the United Arab Emirates, had guarded
details of the 24-year-old prince's death. In keeping with religious
practice, his body was flown home within 48 hours. Flags flew at half-mast
and newspapers carried a simple paragraph announcing his death. The UAE
embassy said he had died of natural causes.

But yesterday his father, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, was forced
to disclose the true reason for his playboy son's end.

In a statement to the Eastbourne coroner's court, the sheikh described the
moment he found his son's body on 3 April.

"My security guard broke the window of the bathroom. I went into the
bathroom and I found him on his knees on the bathroom floor."

Detective Sergeant Roger Sealey of Sussex Police told the court that a
syringe was found under the prince's leg. "There was the full paraphernalia
of an intravenous drugs user. In the bathroom there were several syringes on
the sink and a type of dessert spoon near by."

The prince had long been a worry to his father, who had chosen a younger son
to succeed as ruler. Thrown out of an Arizona university and unable to
settle on any profession, the prince had turned to heroin.

The court heard that the young man's father had been aware of his drug habit
but was convinced he had weaned himself off it while doing training for the
Sharjah police. He had not taken the drug for 18 months.

A Home Office pathologist, Dr Iain West, told the coroner the prince could
have lost his tolerance of the drug and consequently his habitual dose had
proved fatal. He died of opiate intoxication.

The father and son had flown to Gatwick the day before for a break at Wych
Cross Place, the family's home near East Grinstead. On arrival the prince
went to his room.

Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi said: "At midday the next day I went
and asked my security staff if they had seen my son. His bags were still
outside his room." The estate manager, Nicholas Tippett, broke in through
the bathroom window but the prince had been dead for several hours.

The East Sussex coroner, Alan Craze, in recording a verdict that the prince
died of a non-dependent abuse of drugs, said: "Nobody, however privileged
and well-educated, is immune to drug addiction. He was dicing with death."