Christopher Fish

Christopher Fish was found dead on his bedroom floor in his flat in Pant Glas in Pentwyn at about 2.40pm on Saturday 23 September 2017.

His inquest stated that he might have been assaulted and that his body appeared to have been moved after his death.

A 30-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of murder shortly after his body was found but later released.

However, his cause of death was described as being 'indeterminate' and an open verdict was returned at his inquest. He was a diabetic and also suffered from epilepsy, seizures and heart disease.

A doctor that examined Christopher Fish's body shortly after he was found dead said, 'He was facing upwards and rather congested. That is the sort of thing that normally happens when someone is faced down. It could have been when the emergency services arrived or it could have been he was facing down on the bed and was moved down onto the floor'.

The doctor added that he found small injuries that indicated that an assault might have taken place, saying, 'In total there were some 37 injuries that I’ve detailed and they are a mixture of splits, grazes and bruises. There is a pattern of injuries that doesn’t look like it can all be explained. There are a number of injuries on him that are in keeping with him being moved. The majority of them are fresh injuries. There are a number of injuries that do suggest assault'.

When he was found he had enough methadone in his body to have killed him as well as traces of morphine from heroin, cocaine, cannabinoid and other drugs.

As such, combined with the fact that Christopher Fish was diabetic and had other medical issues, he said that he could not rule out that his death had been caused by the drugs that he had in his system and as such had recorded his cause of death as having been indeterminate.

He added, 'In coming to a conclusion as to the cause of death I’m hampered by a number of different possibilities'.

The pathologist said that he thought that Christopher Fish had died between six to eight hours before the police and ambulance service was called out.

His inquest also heard that neighbours had heard Christopher Fish arguing with his girlfriend on the night before he was found dead, as well as during the morning of Saturday 23 September 2017. A woman that lived opposite said that she had heard raised voices. She said, 'Chris was a really quiet person until he met her. On September 23 at around 2-3am I could hear raised voices, enough to wake me. At 4.50am again I could hear her shouting for him to wake up. At 7.40am it was still going on. In all of this I didn’t hear Chris’s voice once. It was always her who was the loud, agitated one'.

Christopher Fish's girlfriend said that she had gone shopping in Cardiff on the Saturday morning and was not responsible for his death.

When the police gave evidence at the inquest, they summarised the statements that Christopher Fish's girlfriend had made to them, saying that she had told them that on the Friday night that Christopher Fish had eaten around 100 Valium tablets before she went to bed in the living room and that when she woke up the following morning that she went out shopping and that when she returned she had found him dead in the bedroom. They said that she told them that she had gone into the bedroom when she got back and found him there on the bed and that she had then thrown the mattress onto the floor and had then tried to mop up the blood.

A paramedic said that when he arrived at the flat that he found the bedroom in complete disarray. He said, 'There were three pillows and they all appeared to have blood stains on them. There was also a mop by the foot of the bed. A chest of drawers appeared to have been smashed. It heightened my feeling that this was suspicious. There were further observations that an altercation had taken place'.

Christopher Fish was buried at Western Cemetery on 17 October 2017, his service being held shortly before at St Pauls Church in Grangetown.