A DRUG user died after taking heroin at the hostel where he was staying, an inquest heard.

Aaron Lennon, 46, injected himself with heroin and sedative benzodiazepine in his room in the Islington Motel, Blackburn, on January 15.

The hearing at Preston Coroner’s Court then heard how Mr Lennon went upstairs to a friend’s room, sat on a bed and collapsed and stopped breathing.

He was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital but died on January 23.

A statement from paramedic Stephen Duncan said: “A cardiac arrest had been reported and I was shown to the third floor of the hostel where several other people were around.

“I asked what had happened and I was told he taken heroin and benzodiazepine in his room.

“He then walked upstairs to a friend’s room and sat on his bed and collapsed and stopped breathing. He was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital.”

A statement from Dr Thomas Simpson, who carried out a post-mortem examination, said: “Mr Lennon discharged himself from his hospital ward on January 15.

“He then injected heroin and benzodiazepine at his home and collapsed and was brought to the intensive care unit at the hospital.

“It was decided that continuation of treatment was futile and he was placed in end-of-life care.

“I would offer a medical cause of death as a hypoxic brain injury caused by a cardiac arrest that was brought on by benzodiazepine toxicity.”

Recording a conclusion of drug-related death, coroner Richard Taylor, said: “Mr Lennon died at Royal Blackburn Hospital on January 23 from a brain injury sustained from a cardiac arrest after he had ingested drugs on January 15.”

Mr Lennon’s death follows that of Paul McCartney, who died of a heroin overdose, at Islington House on April 9 last year.