A 'HARD-working' and loving' father died after taking cocktail of drugs including heroin despite struggling with a heart condition, an inquest heard.

Andrew Carne, 54, was found dead at his home in Raven Croft, Helmshore, on August 9, 2020, a day after he was seen alive by his carers.

The father-of-two was well-loved in the community and known for being a bike fanatic, with a number of bikers holding a cavalcade for his funeral.

His wife Tracey said: "He was just an amazing person and he would do anything for anybody.

"He loved to ride his bike. He had so many good friends and a loving family.

"He worked really hard and kept his family safe through thick and thin - he would do anything for them.

"What happened was so out of character and so unfortunate for all the family.

"All his friends and family at the funeral said they would have never expected anything like this from him.

"He was a poor man that fell on hard times.

"He was just looking for something to take the pain away and sadly he gravitated towards the wrong thing."

An inquest at Accrington Town Hall heard how Andrew was found when his carers visited his home on August 9.

Police were called with Tracey believing that, although she was aware he was a drug user, there was third party involvement as she said he 'did not know how to inject himself'.

Detective Inspector Darren Irving said that, unlike in drug deaths from prolific users, there was no evidence of any drug taking in the property and he had no significant injuries which would suggest any sort of struggle.

The inquest heard phone records showed that on August 8, Andrew called a man called Dominic Edwards asking for 'crack and cocaine' to which Dominic refused but gave him the number of somebody who would give him the drugs.

DI Irving said that Andrew, who was a 'naive drug user', managed to contact the person, with DNA on cans showing that the person had been in the house.

After his death, a police investigation was opened but officers were unable to find the needle that was used to inject Andrew and could not say who had injected him.

In a statement written by Tracey, she explained that she and Andrew's relationship had been difficult and that he had struggled after a car accident, which led to him turning to drinking and taking drugs as he wanted to 'experiment'.

Andrew had previously been to hospital because of an overdose where somebody injected the drugs for him but he recovered from this and did not wish to press any charges.

Earlier in his life, Andrew had been diagnosed with ischemic heart disease, which is characterised by narrowed heart arteries.

In a post-mortem, Home Office pathologist Dr Charles Wilson found that Andrew had alcohol and a cocktail of drugs in his system including heroin, methadone and cocaine, among prescribed medications.

Dr Wilson concluded that the medical cause of death was multiple drug toxicity with ischemic heart disease as a ‘significant contributing factor’.

Coroner Richard Taylor returned a conclusion of 'death by misadventure'.