A STRUGGLING drug addict who was trying to turn his life around died from heart failure caused by chronic drug use.

Alan Warburton was found unresponsive and cold in his room at Muamba House, Duke Street, shortly after 5.30pm on June 26.

The 42-year-old suffered with depression, and Bolton coroner's court heard that he used drugs to cope with it.

Mr Warburton was last seen at 1.20am on the morning of his death.

He was complaining of pain in his back and kidneys to staff at the facility, and claimed to have had a seizure.

Staff offered him an ambulance, but he refused and was escorted back to his room as staff believed he was under the influence of drugs.

His body was found after staff were asked to carry out a welfare check on him that evening.

Kelly Warburton, his sister, said that her brother became motivated to overcome his problems around three years ago.

He moved in with her before getting his own room in a hostel.

Kelly said the room was "not very nice" but it allowed him to try and work through his issues.

On June 20, Mr Warburton moved into Muamba House, a supported housing service for those from the area experiencing homelessness.

Adam O'Leary, a senior staff member at the facility, said: "Residents are not permitted to use substances on site.

"Man people referred with substance misuse and we signpost them to places that can help."

He told the court that Mr Warburton was assessed as "medium risk" when he arrived on site due to health issues and medications he was taking.

He defended the staff's decision to not call him an ambulance before his death, as staff would have assessed his capacity to make that decision, and despite being under the influence, Alan still had "some capacity" to refuse treatment.

Dr Patrick Waugh, a consultant histopathologist at Royal Bolton Hospital, said that the death was caused by cardiac failure, with chronic cocaine use recorded as the secondary cause of death.

He told the court that a regular heart normally weighs about 350g, but Mr Warburton's heart was twice that size at 792g.

After confirming that he was not suffering from artery disease, the usual cause of an enlarged heart, Dr Waugh concluded that his large heart was caused by chronic cocaine use limiting the supply of blood to the organ.

Assistant coroner Rachel Syed concluded that drugs had caused the death.

Speaking to Kelly directly, she said: "I have no doubt that Alan would be especially proud of you today.

"I have heard that Alan had a chronic history of drug misuse – at the time Alan died he had used various drugs.

"I hope that this case highlights the dangers of chronic cocaine use and I hope that this will act as a deterrent to other people."