A MAN who had abused drugs and alcohol for over almost 20 years died from an overdose of prescription and recreational drugs, a coroners court heard on Tuesday.
The body of 37-year-old William Maslen was discovered on September 12 2018 at his home in Boroughs Close, Corsham by his friend who had gone to check on him.
A post mortem report revealed Mr Maslen had taken a vast quantity of depressive drugs including heroin, methamphetamine and xanex shortly before he died.
The court heard police statements in which Mr Maslen’s parents, Susan and Richard Maslen said they were aware of his long term drug problem which started in his early 20’s when he would experiment with cannabis and heroin at music festivals.
Mr Maslen told police that he believed his son’s addiction was under control as it was well managed by his mum, although he had previously become seriously ill as a result of his addiction on more than one occasion.
In January last year, Mr Maslen was admitted to a drug rehabilitation centre where he was advised to stay for two to three months, however he left after just two weeks.
He stayed off drugs after rehab for the next four months but relapsed in June for reasons unknown to his parents or friends, although he suffered from depression and anxiety throughout his life.
In 2016 Mr Maslen met Mark Whitts who became a close friend of his, bonding over their mutual love of electronica music.
With Mr Whitts living just a few doors down from his new friend, Mr Maslen’s mum would often be in contact to ask Mr Whitts to check in on him.
In a police statement, Mr Whitts said: “He was open about his drug use and experimenting. It seemed if he wasn’t high or drunk he was unhappy and he would get the shakes.
“I went to his house the day before he died and three of his friends were there. They were all taking drugs but William seemed a lot more intoxicated than them, he wasn’t on the same level. He was sat cross legged on the floor and slurring his words, he was too intoxicated to make sense.
“The next day his mum asked to me check on him so I went round, the door was unlocked. I found William in the living room slumped over in a chair. I touched him but he was cold and stiff.
“I tried shaking him and blood came from his facial features, so I knew something was seriously wrong and I called for an ambulance.
“There was white powder on the table next to him as well as rolled up tubes.”
On arrival paramedics confirmed that Mr Maslen had been dead for several hours due to the stiffness of his muscles.
Reading his conclusion to the court, assistant coroner Ian Singleton said: “It is clear that Mr Maslen had used drugs for a number of years, and he died an accidental death on September 12 2018.
“The cause of death was aspiration of gastric content caused by the effect of the quantity of depressive drugs consumed and toxicity.”
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