A YOUNG father who died in police custody had taken an exceptionally high dose of cocaine.

Steven Chesney, 33, became ill after cops detained him for brandishing a machete in the street of his Motherwell home in Biggar Road, Cleland on May 1, 2016.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death was held at Hamilton Sheriff Court in March and today Sheriff Douglas Brown published his determination.

Tests revealed the quantity of the Class A drug he had ingested was “off the analytical scale”.

We previously reported that Mr Chesney’s family had raised concerns about how he died.

But a sheriff ruled he died of a massive cocaine overdose and could not have been saved.

Sheriff Brown said: “The pathologists concluded that the main factor causing death was cocaine toxicity. Severe cocaine intoxication is very difficult to treat successfully. Once Mr Chesney had ingested this exceptionally high toxic dose there was no realistic possibility of survival even with immediate medical treatment.”