A CORONER has ruled an Andover man’s death as drug and alcohol related.

An inquest at Winchester Coroner’s Court heard that Jason Mathew Ayling’s body was found on the floor of a friend’s flat after a night of drinking on Friday, July 29 last year.

Senior coroner Grahame Short heard how the 28-year-old, of Lancelot Close, had spent the previous night with friends drinking cider until the early hours.

In a statement read out at the inquest, friend Munge Sheriff said Mr Ayling had come round to his flat at Atholl Court the day before after visiting his grandmother.

Another friend joined the duo and all three drank together until early the next day when the friend left and Mr Sheriff went to bed, leaving Mr Ayling sitting on a barstool in the combined living room and kitchen.

About half an hour later he recalled hearing a loud thud but was unconcerned as he lived in a block of flats and regularly heard such noises.

It was not until the afternoon when Mr Sheriff woke and took Mr Ayling’s dog outside to the balcony, he saw his friend had fallen off the barstool but thought he was asleep.

It was not until he went to shake his friend awake that he found he was unresponsive and had a small gash to his head.

He dialled an ambulance and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

Shortly afterwards medics told him Mr Ayling had died.

The court heard through Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, a statement from his GP and evidence how Mr Ayling had a history of self-harming and had attempted to take his own life a number of times throughout his life.

In a statement, the pathologist, Dr Adnan Al-Badri, said Mr Ayling’s lungs were congested and filled with fluid.

In a toxicology report it was found that he had a low level of alcohol in his system of 17 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The report added Mr Ayling also had Venlafaxine, an antidepressant, and morphine in his system.

Cocaine was also detected, however Mr Short later concluded he believed this did not contribute to his death due to its stimulant nature.

At the inquest Mr Ayling’s mother said her son had started to think about making plans for the future.

She said: “He was going to go back to college to study mechanics. He was really pleased with that, he was going to refer to the gym through his doctors.”

She added that her son seemed alert and quite happy, but that it did not look like he had been using illicit substances.

In conclusion, the coroner said the results of the toxicology pointed out Mr Ayling had not been taking his prescribed medication, except for Venlafaxine.

Due to the presence of morphine and the lack of marks on his arms, he concluded he had probably smoked a heroin substance, most likely in between visiting his family and going to Mr Sheriff ’s house.

Along with the alcohol they caused central nervous system depression, which can result in decreased breathing, heart rate, and loss of consciousness.

Mr Short said: “Therefore I rule out the cause of suicide in these particular circumstances. I think it’s more likely a misjudgment of the quantity of heroin. I’m going to describe this as a drugs and alcohol related death.”

He concluded by offering Mr Ayling’s family his condolences.