A heroin addict died locked in his bedroom where his mother thought he was sleeping, an inquest was told yesterday.

Philip Naughton, 26, had hammered nails in the door frame, which could be turned to act an bolts.

His brother-in-law kicked in the door and he was discovered kneeling at the side of his bed in Middlesbrough, with a syringe, spoon, tourniquet and empty drug wrappers nearby.

He had 20 needle marks in his arms, and he died from a lethal cocktail of drugs, said pathologist Dr Campbell Ritchie.

Two days earlier his GP, Dr Gillian Hodgson issued him with a prescription for a larger than usual amount of 150 Dihydrocodeine and 90 Diazepam tablets. He said that he was going South to stay with relatives, she told the Middlesbrough inquest.

Dr Hodgson said that the unemployed bachelor told her in 1997 that he had been using heroin for six-and-a-half years.

He claimed to be on a methadone reduction programme, but five months later she had to visit him after he injected heroin, using vinegar as a dilutant.

His mother Ann, 56, fought back tears an she said she knew that he was using drugs but he was trying to quit.

Michael Sheffield, the coroner for Central Teesside, recorded a misadventure verdict on the death in May 1999 of Mr Naughton, of Forbes Avenue, Whinney Banks, Middlesbrough