A 43-YEAR-OLD man from Barrow sadly died due to a drug overdose, an inquest has heard.

Ian Wharton, of no fixed abode, was found deceased on February 4, 2020 at Egerton Court on Barrow Island, Cockermouth Coroner’s Court was told.

Mr Wharton was found to have had multiple drugs in his system according to the toxicology report, which ultimately was the cause of his death.

His mother, Linda Ogilvie, said in her statement that her son had attended Roose School in Barrow and later Parkview and that he “got into trouble here and there”

“He fell into the wrong crowd,” she said.

“He later used to come around and was always asking for money.”

She went on to say that he got into to drugs quite badly following his separation from the mother of his two children.

She said she was surprised by the news of his death after he had previously told her that he had had enough and was sick of being homeless.

Barrow police inspector James Bailey made a statement which said: “ I was on patrol when I was called to Egerton Court. When I arrived ambulance crews were in attendance.

“When I entered the flat was a mess. I saw a male lying on his back.

“He was known to me as Ian Wharton. He was addicted to drugs.”

Mr Bailey’s colleague PC Steven Herbert also left a statement which explained there was evidence of drug use in the flat due to “needles lying around as well as unknown tablets”.

The recovery coordinator responsible for Mr Wharton’s care at the rehabilitation service Unity had issued a reported the last contact they had with him was on January 9, 2020 where he discussed sorting out his living arrangements and his heroin usage.

There was discussion with the doctor to increase his methadone at that point.

The toxicology report found Mr Wharton had codeine, cocaine, methadone, and morphine in samples taken of his blood and urine.

The level of morphine was 317 micrograms per litre which was indicative of heroin use according to the toxicologist.

The pathologist gave the cause of death as a multi-drug toxicity which was retained by coroner Ms Kirsty Gomersal.

She said in her conclusion: “I find there were no suspicious circumstances or third party involvement and I find he had a long standing drug issues.

“I find no evidence to suggest Ian intended to kill himself. So my conclusion is that his death is a drug related death.”