Heath Ledger’s cocaine supplier steps foward

A club owner has sensationally claimed that he used to supply cocaine to the tragic actor Heath Ledger.

American John-Bruce Shoemaker, 45, told a U.S. magazine that Heath was a heavy user of hard drugs while filming in Prague on two different occasions.

And he insisted: "I supplied him with cocaine and we did it together."

His explosive claims to the National Enquirer in the U.S. come as toxicology reports are still due to reveal if drugs played a part in the Brokeback Mountain star's death.

Prescription drugs were found around his body - and insiders have since insisted he had an ongoing battle with drugs including cocaine and even heroin.

Now shoemaker, who owned the Prague nightclub Marquis de Sade, insists he knows first-hand just how out of control a Heath's drug abuse became.

He insists the star once confided in him: 'If I'm not careful, this stuff will kill me.'

And Shoemaker has no doubts that it must have played a part in the star's death in his Manhattan apartment.

"I feel 100 percent certain that Heath's lifestyle was connected to his untimely death," he told the National Enquirer.

Shoemaker says he got to know Heath - and his party habits - while the star was in Prague on two occasions, in 2000 to film 'A Knight's Tale' and then 2003 for 'The Brothers Grimm'.

"Heath was in my club practically every night for months," he insists. "There were lots of beautiful girls in my club but he ignored them all. He was interested only in drugs."

Most alarmingly he says the passing years brought about a noticeable change in how hard he was using drugs - and also in his personality. "The first time, in 2000, he would snort about half-a-gram a day," shoemaker insisted.

"He was always funny, pleasant, and we all enjoyed his company.

"But when he came back the second time in 2003 he was a different man.

"He was up to one and two grams a day and he'd become unhappy and withdrawn."

He says that character change was most noticeable when the star would come in to DJ at his club. "He had his own collection of really good soul music," he said. "But if anyone asked him to play anything else, he would get almost violently angry."

By Lee Brown, Jan 30 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy