A FORMER heroin addict died after unwittingly taking a lethal cocktail of drink and drugs.

Mr Stephen Acheampong collapsed at a friends house in George Road, Ramsbottom, in August of last year and he died in Fairfield General Hospital a short time later. A postmortem revealed he had suffered lethal toxicity poisoning from the combined effects of amitriptyline anti-depressents and a large quantity of alcohol.

An inquest heard on Friday that Mr Acheampong, aged 44, turned to heroin in his 30s but had beaten his addiction four months before his death.

According to his mother, Patricia, of Lime Grove, Ramsbottom, her son regularly failed to take his anti-depressents as prescribed and would often play "catch-up" by consuming the doses he had missed in one go.

The postmortem also showed that the deceased had stopped taking the drugs several hours before he consumed the alcohol.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, deputy Coroner Mr Barrie Williams said: "The combined effects of the high levels of amitriptyline and alcohol would be lethal.

"Mr Acheampong would not have intended death to be the consequences of his actions, but rather a careless disregard for his own health and safety."