A FOOTBALL scout died from an overdose of sleeping tablets, an inquest heard.

Archie Christie was found lying on his bed with his face down on January 30 by his partner, Gayle, at their home in Mayflower Way, Beaconsfield.

The inquest at Beaconsfield Coroner's Court yesterday heard a post mortem showed he had double the fatal level of amitriptyline in his bloodstream.

The 48-year-old had been prescribed the medication as he was having trouble sleeping.

DC Matt Kent told the inquest his long term partner, Gayle, had left for work at 7.30am on the day he died.

One of their two daughters returned home from school at 4pm and went into her parents' bedroom to see her dad lying on the bed with his face down and presumed he was asleep.

When Gayle returned home at 5.50pm she went into the bedroom and realised he wasn't breathing. She called an ambulance and carried out CPR, but he was pronounced dead by paramedics.

The inquest heard there was visible white powder around his lips and cheeks.

DC Matt Kent told the court, Mr Christie was in the process of buying an enforcement agency business with two business partners, which was being signed off the next day.

The company was worth £2m and had taken 18 months to buy.

Gayle told police he was a cocaine user, although this was not discussed by the couple, but she believed he did it once a night up to three times a week. The toxicology report tested positive for cocaine.

She told police her partner feared he might have Cushing's Disease and a tumour at the back of his brain.

But medical records showed he had tested negative for the disease in May 2013 and this was not noted in the post mortem.

Coroner Richard Hulett said: "There is a complete absence of evidence he did any of this purposefully. He had been prescribed amitriptyline, which seems to be against a background of sleeplessness and probable anxiety.

"He certainly has too much of it in his system. I think the proper verdict here is a short narrative to the effect, he died from amitriptyline toxicity but the evidence does not officially disclose how he came to have that level of toxicity in his system."