A Darlington man found dead on his friend’s sofa after turning up asking for somewhere to sleep died due to the effects of drugs, an inquest concluded.

Tom Ray Durham, 29, was found dead at his friend Jack Gallagher’s house in Darlington the morning after arriving and asking for somewhere to sleep on March 24 this year.

He had left prison a month earlier and had a long history of drug problems, an inquest at Crook Coroner’s Court last week heard.

The court was told Tom had turned up at the home under the influence and needing a place to stay. Jack, whose partner and her son were also home, ate with Tom and they all went to sleep that night.

In a statement read to the court Mr Gallagher recalled getting up the next morning (March 25) and hearing Tom snoring when he left the house at about 7.45am.

Summarising the statement Assistant Coroner Dr Leslie Hamilton said: “He left the house at about 7.45am and could hear him (Tom) snoring.

“Because of the weather, he wasn’t able to do his work so he came back at about 8.30am and he and his partner went shopping. They got back from town at about 11am and when they got in her son had been crying.

“That’s when he has gone into the front room and found Tom was not breathing and was cold, and phoned for the ambulance.”

The inquest heard the youngster had seen that Tom was no longer snoring but had not called for an ambulance, going back to bed and crying.

It also heard concerns from Tom’s dad John over whether his son could have survived if an ambulance attended sooner, but Dr Hamilton said: “He had been deceased for some time and an ambulance getting there earlier wouldn’t have made any difference.

"Once you stop breathing death can occur in two or three minutes."

A post-mortem examination gave his cause of death as being gastric aspiration due to the combined toxic effects of several drugs including methadone and pregabalin.

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The coroner concluded the death as being drug related and explained that combined drugs would have “switched off” the part of Tom’s brain which tells you to breathe without thinking.

Dr Leslie Hamilton said: “There is nothing to suggest he intended to take his own life. Clearly he died sometime during the morning.”

Speaking to the family he added: “It can’t be easy as a father sitting listening to that about your son. That is one of the challenges of bringing your kids up – you try to keep them on the straight and narrow and give them all the advice you can but ultimately they can make their own decisions.”