Exclusive by Paddy Dinham & Sean Butters
A Manchester Gay Village sex sauna’s ‘dirty’ and unhygienic conditions were slammed by a coroner after a man lay dead in a cubicle for hours – because an attendant thought he was sleeping.
Coroner Nigel Meadows said conditions at the sauna, including blood on the walls, and faeces and urine in the sauna area, ran the risk of infections such as hepatitis and HIV being contracted.
The inquest into the death of 46-year-old Stephen Green heard how he was found in a ‘rest room’ at the H20 sauna in Manchester’s gay village.
The court heard that gay men frequent the pay-to-enter sauna for consensual sex and that rooms are provided with mattresses and sexual paraphernalia.
Mr Green, of Ten Acres Lane, Newton Heath was found lying face down naked in one of the rooms in the early hours of the morning on March 17 last year by an attendant John McMahon who thought he was sleeping.
He prodded Mr Green but when he got no response cleaned him of the faeces on his body. He then sprayed aerosol around the room and left.
The inquest heard that staff went on regular ‘rounds’ to inspect the sauna and rest rooms and would often clean up faeces and urine.
When the sauna attendant called in to the rest room two hours later at 6am he found Mr Green dead and paramedics were called. Mr Green died from high levels of amphetamine and caffeine in his system, compounded by a heart condition, the inquest heard.
Detective Sergeant David Henshawe, one of the GMP officers who arrived on the scene, gave a graphic description of the sauna.
“I was a bit shocked by how unclean it was,” he said. “There were waste condoms and human faeces.”
Detective Henshawe also confirmed that there was no evidence of any prostitution taking place.
The coroner expressed concern about hygiene at the sauna, repeatedly questioning the manager of H2O Sauna Wayne Battersby about reports of dirty conditions and the fact that bodily fluids were placed in normal bin bags, as well as equipment such as needles used to inject penises to keep them erect.
Coroner Meadows questioned the venue over staff having to deal with faeces and other substances, a process which Mr McMahon, testifying in absentia, said was not ‘common practice but had been done in the past’.
Mr Battersby said that Mr McMahon should not have cleaned up the excrement and denied that it was protocol to do so.
There was no suggestion that drug dealing took place on the premises but Mr Battersby admitted people coming in from clubs were known to use drugs.
Coroner Meadows said it was pure speculation as to whether he could have been roused when first discovered but questioned why nobody was notified. He also said it was unclear at what time Mr Green actually died.
The coroner was then given a report by a Manchester City Council representative, who described how food is prepared by the same staff members who come into contact with faeces and blood.
“You clean up excrement and then go and handle food which you then give to the customers?” he asked incredulously.
It was confirmed that staff wore gloves when cleaning the sauna and were instructed to always wash their hands. However both the council’s report and coroner raised concerns with food being prepared on the premises and stressed the need for pre-packed sandwiches.
The coroner asked the attending Manchester City Council representative if he had taken any action on these findings, but while Mr Battersby said he had started selling pre-packed sandwiches, food was still prepared by the same staff who cleaned the premises. It emerged that the council had not been back to check up on the premises since the report to see if changes had been put in place.
Coroner Meadows then ordered the council to return to the venue and make sure the procedure was being followed, threatening to ‘come down on you like a ton of bricks’ if they did not comply.
“This is not a judgement of morals but merely a matter of health and safety,” he said.
Mr Battersby assured the coroner they had now carried out environmental health hygiene recommendations, including putting ‘sharps’ and any bodily waste into clinical bags, as well as using separate clearing equipment such as mops for the sauna and kitchen areas.
The deceased’s sister, Amanda Green, told the court how Mr Green had complained of chest pains a week earlier and that she had become concerned for her brother when he did not return home at the usual time.
She also revealed that he suffered from mental health problems as well having issues with his heart and liver, but that he did not take his medication owing to a fondness for alcohol.
Giving evidence, a doctor said that Mr Green had bruising to the right side of his neck and upper lip with the facial injuries having been recently inflicted, but there was no evidence of sexual assault.
He added that the level of amphetamine in Mr Green’s blood would normally be considered fatal had he not built up a tolerance.
There was also an unusually high level of caffeine in his blood, which would have required Mr Green to have drank ‘litres and litres’ of energy drink, meaning it was most likely consumed in pill form, the doctor said.
Picture courtesy of Google Maps, with thanks.
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