AN overweight drug dealer collapsed and died after swallowing a substance thought to be cocaine during struggle with police officers, a court has been told.

Stuart Sandeman, 37, was so large that police needed three sets of handcuffs to restrain him after they raided his home in Perth.

A fatal accident inquiry into his death was told officers became concerned over the substance he was consuming and tried to get him to spit it out.

Sandeman refused and grappled with officers while claiming he was eating a roll, the hearing was told yesterday (mon). However, they became concerned when he collapsed. Sandeman, who was known as 'big Sandy,' was pronounced dead around 20 minutes later despite attempts to revive him.

Detective Sergeant Rob Prudom, who led the inquiry into Sandeman's drug dealing, told Perth Sheriff Court: "He very quickly went from being obstructive to being very passive and then his health deteriorated very, very quickly. Loss of consciousness is what springs to mind.

"I instructed officers to check his vital signs. There was a very quick chain of events and they couldn't find a pulse and went to CPR."

Earlier, DS Prudom said that Sandeman, who had carried out the raid after intelligence on his activities, said the suspect was "extremely fat" and "incredibly big."

He said the man had claimed to be eating a bacon roll during the brawl with up to six officers, but he suspected it a red powdery substance that he thought was cocaine.

The inquiry was told they repeatedly shouted "spit it out" at him, but Sandeman refused to do so and grappled with officers while claiming he was eating a roll.

It heard that the officers had to eventually string three sets of handcuffs together because Sandeman was so overweight he could not put his hands together behind his back.

DS Prudom added: "Over a period of days there was intelligence Stuart Sandeman was dealing drugs from his home. Drug dealers of all descriptions have a propensity for trying to dispose of evidence."

He added that Sandeman had fought with officers when he was caught with drugs at T in the Park in 2001 and later convicted.

A warrant was obtained and his home was searched on 6 May 2011.

The officer added: "I could hear PC Donnelly shouting repeatedly that somebody had swallowed drugs. They were shouting at him 'spit it out.' I took it that he had swallowed some drugs.

"They were trying to get control of Mr Sandeman, but the opinion I formed was that, given his size, he was walking through them and they had little control of him.

"At that stage he seemed incredibly big. He was tall and extremely fat. He seemed to loom at the door. Given the size of him, he did quite literally fill up the space at the door."

DS Prudom said he fell to the ground creating a problem for officers trying to restrain his hands and the suspect fell over.

He added: "Given Mr Sandeman's size there was no way we would get his wrists close enough to get a single set of cuffs on. Given how large he was it required a third set," he added.

DS Prudom told the court that Sandeman continued to struggle and said: "It was incredibly difficult to move him given his size and weight.

"He was speaking to us all the time. He was telling us he was trying to eat and swallow a bacon roll. He was still resisting us by moving his body.

"I could see he was spitting out a red substance. I initially thought of it as red cocaine, that concerned me. It wasn't a natural colour for the cocaine to be."

The officer moved his position to help him and said he went 'very quickly from being obstructive to being very passive." He added that his health deteriorated 'very, very quickly' before they tried CPR when there was no pulse.

The hearing before Sheriff Fiona Tait continues.