DRUG addict Victor Kavanagh died after accidentally overdosing on heroin, an inquest heard.

DRUG addict Victor Kavanagh died after accidentally overdosing on heroin, an inquest heard.

Mr Kavanagh, 29, was found face down on the floor of his bedroom at Lansdowne Road, Chesham, by his mother hours after returning from a night out on June 13. There was an empty syringe on his bed.

Mr Kavanagh, who was unemployed, had become increasingly dependent on drink and drugs since returning from prison in April, the High Wycombe inquest heard on Tuesday.

His mother Audrey Hewitt was too upset to give evidence but a statement read out said her son had been seeing a group of drug friends and a group of drink friends as 'one or the other was not enough by itself.'

Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett told the inquest that heroin was an unpredictable drug and Mr Kavanagh had not expected to kill himself when he took the injection.

He said: 'I am sure he had no intention he would die. He would have expected to go on with his business the next day. This was a mistake; an accident.'

The inquest heard that Mrs Hewitt was awoken by a loud noise from Victor's room in the early hours of June 14.

She went in to find him lying on the floor snoring loudly.

After telling her son to be quiet, and warning him he would get cold, she went back to her room but decided to check on him later.

Mrs Hewitt's statement said: 'For some reason I felt uneasy about entering. It was as if I sensed something was wrong.

'He was not making any noise and did not appear to be moving. I remember touching one of his arms and found it cold. I could not arouse him.'

She then called her son Mark and told him she thought Victor had died.

He came to the house along with the the emergency services.

A post-mortem carried out on Mr Kavanagh's body found a very high level of morphine in his blood and showed he had died from cardio-respiratory arrest following a heroin injection.

Mrs Hewitt told the inquest she had always suspected that her son had been using 'needles' despite his constant denials.

She said he was in a long term relationship but often stayed at her house when he fell out with his girlfriend.

Coroner Richard Hulett recorded a verdict of accidental death.