A 39-YEAR-OLD patient at Calderstones Hospital died suddenly in a 60,000-to-one incident two weeks after he was put on a "drug of last resort".

Coroner Michael Singleton told a jury at an inquest in Blackburn that there was no evidence the drug, Clozaril, had been administered incorrectly.

The jury returned a verdict of misadventure on convicted sex offender Marcus James Wing, who died at the hospital in Whalley in October last year.

Mr Singleton had earlier directed them that they did not have the option on the complex evidence they had heard to return negligent manslaughter.

Dr Jane Riley, medical adviser for the company which manufactures Clozaril, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, said it had received reports of 53 fatalities among three million users of the drug worldwide.

This compared with a 10 per cent suicide rate among paranoid schizophrenics.

An investigation was launched 10 months ago after an inquest was opened and adjourned on Mr Wing, who had been a patient at Calderstones for eight years.

Dr Ade Adewunmi , a consultant psychiatrist at Calderstones, told yesterday's hearing that over the years Mr Wing had received different forms of anti-psychotic medication for paranoid schizophrenia.

He added: "It was decided by the clinical mangment team to put him on Closaril, a new-generation anti-psychotic medication. It is a 'drug of last resort', as it were."

Two days after starting the new treatment on October 9, Mr Wing had been well-behaved and played football in the gym.

Three days befoe his death, on October 21, he had been in a "brilliant mood," but shortly afterwards developed stomach problems which a GP connected to Calderstones diagnosed as gastro-enteritis.

On October 24 he appeared to be much better whilestill tired, and at about 9.20pm he had gone to bed with a slight headache. Twenty-five minutes later he was found dead on his bed by support worker Darrell Dewhurst.

Consultant forensic pathologist Dr Charles Wilson said in a post-mortem examination he found inflammation of the heart muscle. "I think there is a very good chance that the inflammation was caused by an abnormal reaction to the Clozaril," he added. The cause of death was acute heart failure.