Peter Gordon Stickley, of Tachbrook Road, died at the home of his former girlfriend Alice McDermot after injecting a combination of heroin, methadone and cocaine.

The 30-year-old had been on a methadone programme for three months after admitting to his mother Lorraine that he had been taking heroin since he was 18.

The inquest heard that on October 4 last year, Mr Stickley told Ms McDermot he was planning to go on a hospital treatment programme and the pair agreed to meet at her house in Rusina Court the next day.

Ms McDermot said: "Peter said he was going to take a bath and I went to chat to him in the bathroom. I thought I saw him hiding something.
"I asked him if he was taking anything. He said 'no'."

Ms McDermot went to a Tachbrook Road fish and chip shop with a friend and on her return she discovered Mr Stickley submerged in the bath. A hypodermic needle and foil packaging were found alongside.

An ambulance was called, but after several attempts at resuscitation, Mr Stickley was declared dead at the scene.

Speaking in a statement at the time, Ms Pheasey said: "He received hospital treatment and told me he was not intending to overdose. He had no history of self harm."

At Leamington Town Hall last week she added: "He would not have committed suicide - he loved his little brothers and sisters so much."
Very low traces of alcohol were found in Mr Stickley's blood, which suggested he had not been drinking that day.

Coroner Sean McGovern said: "My verdict is that this was a death due to drugs. There is no evidence to say it was a deliberate drugs overdose - it seems to me that it was an accident.

"You have to take a lot of methadone to overdose but when you mix it with cocaine it can kill. That seems to have happened here - he made an accident as some people do."