THE funeral of a Royal Navy veteran from Gosport who died after unknowingly drinking pear juice laced with cocaine will be held this morning.

Joromie Lewis, who was 33, died just hours after drinking the Pear D juice drink in Southampton.

His funeral will be held at St Mary the Virgin Church in Gosport at 9am.

There will be a book of condolences there for his family.

Mr Lewis of Kings Road, Gosport, became ill immediately after drinking a pear fruit drink in Southampton.

Tests have shown that the Cole Cold Pear-D fruit drink contained a lethal amount of cocaine.

The Food Standards Agency has issued an alert to all local authorities to contact retailers to withdraw Pear-D if it is found.

Police now have established that the bottle of Cole Cold Pear-D fruit drink was manufactured in the Caribbean and the company did not export this drink to the UK.

Mr Lewis, who was taken ill as he was due to go home to celebrate his daughter's third birthday, died on Thursday, December 5, just hours after he consumed a small amount of the beverage.

Police say their enquiries suggest Mr Lewis ingested a small amount of liquid in the belief he was drinking a genuine pear drink.

The delivery driver was at his employer's lock-up garage in the Bitterne area of the city when he saw the drink and took a mouthful, believing it to be a normal beverage.

He was then taken ill and later died in hospital.

A post mortem examination was carried out on Saturday, December 7.

The results were inconclusive and further enquiries are being carried out in respect of toxicology.

Police have received laboratory test results which showed that the liquid in the juice bottle contained a lethal amount of cocaine.

No arrests have been made in connection with the death of Mr Lewis.