A man who suffered from ill health for many years died as a result of pneumonia caused by long-standing drug use, an inquest has heard.

Damien Drury, 44, died at the Royal Blackburn Hospital on August 26 having been extremely unwell in the days prior, breathing shallowly and with a wheezy cough.

Drury, who was born in Burnley and lived in Nelson, was known to Inspire having first been referred there in 2007.

The inquest at Accrington Town Hall heard he had injected himself with drugs for many years and had been diagnosed with mental and behavioural orders due to his multiple drug use.

Coroner Richard Taylor, giving evidence, said Drury would inject between £30 to £50 of heroin daily and would sometimes consume it by smoking as well.

Drury also had sores on his legs from burst abscesses and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which affected his breathing and mobility.

Alison Ashcroft, from Inspire, said Drury’s use of drugs was often at “concerning levels” and he had been given advice about his use of those drugs on top of prescription use.

Dr Kirby-Bailey, who was the on-shift doctor when Drury arrived at hospital, said had had a very wheezy cough, his respiratory rate was high at 24 breaths per minute, and oxygen saturation was low at 92 per cent.

Drury was seen by Dr James Watts in the intensive care unit who said he suspected there was “a significant degree of pre-existing chronic illness.”

As a result of his illness, he had also developed liver and kidney impairment, and when he went to hospital he had pneumonia at the time.

Mr Taylor said: “By the time he became unresponsive at home, he would have had drugs in his system but it is not those drugs that have killed him, it is the overall picture of drugs being used over a long time that weakened his immune system.”

The coroner recorded a conclusion of drug-related death, saying: “Damien Leroy Drury died at the Royal Blackburn Hospital on August 26, 2023, from the effects of long-term drug misuse.”