AN alcoholic drug abuser died after he injected himself with heroin in a flat in Middlesbrough, an inquest has heard.

On March 3, unemployed Philip Robert Briston, of Diamond Street, Saltburn, was found dead in the shared bathroom in a block of flats in Southfield Road after two of his friends called an ambulance before they fled.

The inquest heard the 40-year-old father-of-two regularly smoked cannabis, crack cocaine and took amphetamine and ecstasy. He also had a history of mental health problems.

Assistant Deputy Coroner Tony Eastwood recorded a verdict of death by misadventure as a result of morphine and alcohol use.