A 28-year-old man who was found dead in his bed at home in Gerrards Cross by his father suffered from depression and stress at work, an inquest into his death heard this week.

The court heard Alan Penn became worried after his son Matthew, who usually woke up at 5am every day for work, did not answer his calls to wake up at 5.45am on January 16 this year.

In a statement read out to the court by coroner’s officer Michelle Croxford, Mr Penn said it was dark and he called out to Matthew, who did not answer.

He went into Matthew’s room and saw him lying on his bed.

Mr Penn said: “He was cold and stiff on his bed. He was gone.”

His wife Mary called 999 and emergency services arrived at the scene, officially pronouncing Matthew, of Dukes Wood Avenue, dead at 6.02am.

In Mr Penn’s statement, he said in the hours before his son’s death, Mrs Penn had picked him up from Gerrards Cross railway station at 4.45pm the previous day after he finished work.

He said his son, who was a trainee accountant, “seemed tired” as he had been working long hours, into the night and sometimes the early hours of the morning.

As Mrs Penn started cooking dinner, Matthew went upstairs to continue working. He came down to get his dinner and took it upstairs to keep working, the court heard.

He then came downstairs again at 10.30pm to tell his parents he was going to bed.

The court was told Matthew suffered from depression, being diagnosed last August, and was stressed about work

He was prescribed diazepam, tranylcypromine and trimipramine.

Mr Penn said his son had come out of a relationship in December last year and was upset about it, with Matthew telling his GP on December 27 that he was feeling “much better” and that his life was improving.

He saw his GP again on January 10 and said both times he was not having suicidal thoughts, but said his mood was “sad” on his second visit, adding his problem was stress at work.

Matthew was prescribed diazepam on January 10 with police saying 13 out of 14 tablets were found to be missing from the strip when he was found dead on January 16.

Police said they presumed he was taking it as prescribed, which was one per day, and that no note was found.

Pathologist Dr Rick Panigrahi said on the balance of probabilities the medical cause of death was mephedrone toxicity.

Concluding, senior coroner for Buckinghamshire Crispin Butler said: “It seems he was working very hard. There were background issues but nothing to suggest that he wanted to take his own life.

“It is a very sad and unfortunate incident.

“Although he had a background in depression, there is no evidence to suggest he intended to take his own life. So I cannot consider suicide as a cause of death.”

He ruled Matthew’s death to be drug-related, calling it an “unfortunate accident”.