Drugs and booze killed man, 50

5:33pm Thursday 24th July 2008

A DRUG addict died in his bedsit in Trowbridge after taking a lethal combination of alcohol and heroin.

Kevin Burgess, 50, lived in one room in Gloucester Road, Trowbridge, an inquest heard.

He was found dead in the flat on March 8 after another resident of the building looked in on him to check on his welfare.

Laura Gadd, who also lived in the building in Gloucester Road, returned home from a friend's house and spotted Mr Burgess lying on the floor on his room.

In a statement read out by Wiltshire Coroner David Masters, at an inquest held in Trowbridge Town Hall on Monday, she said: "I always got on with Kevin and we used to drink and chat together.

"However, he would always bring his drunk friends into the bedsit and then knock on my door. I didn't really like them coming in.

"The landlord had been round on numerous occasions telling him to sort his life out.

"On the day before I found him he had come into my room and he was out of it. I recognised the signs of drug taking.

"He kept lolling forward and slumping over so I got him on to his feet and walked him back to his room.

"He didn't have a proper bed so he laid on the floor and adjusted his head so he was comfortable. That's how I left him."

The next day Mrs Gadd returned to the flat and saw Mr Burgess on the floor through the door, which was slightly ajar.

She said: "I went in to check on him because he was still where I left him. I touched his skin and it was freezing cold.

"I ran to the local shop to get help and an ambulance was called.

"I'm sad that he died. He was a happy person and never nasty to me."

The coroner told the court that in Nov 2007 Mr Burgess told his doctor he was unwell and was abusing drugs.

A consultant pathologist at Salisbury District Hospital found alcohol levels in the blood that could cause a coma.

There were also high levels of morphine recorded.

In a statement read out by the coroner, the pathologist said: "Separately the alcohol and morphine were not lethal but combined as they were the dose was fatal."

Mr Master recorded a verdict of abuse of drugs and went on to explain the injury that caused his death was a combination of alcohol and morphine poisoning.

He said: "He had been drinking and received a hit of heroin. These toxins would have caused him to stop breathing."

Theatre, Art & Cinema