Wigan man hoping to kick drug habit died after taking cocktail of medication and illicit substances

Joseph Moorfield, 25, saw drug and alcohol addiction service We Are With You just two days before he died and started taking methadone to help kick his habit.

But an inquest at Bolton Coroner's Court heard he was found dead at his flat in Platt Bridge on August 27, having taken a “cocktail” of drugs.

The court was told Joseph attended Aspull Church Primary School and The Deanery High School, before doing an apprenticeship as a plastics welder and going to work for a firm making PVC windows.

But his dad Warren Moorfield detailed how he had been a regular drug user since he was 15.

He said: "In his late teens, he started using recreational drugs – cannabis, legal highs as I’m led to believe they are called – and from that stage he progressed onto cocaine and eventually heroin.”

Mr Moorfield described his son as a “Jekyll and Hyde character”, saying he would “joke and laugh” when he had not used drugs, but could become aggressive when he refused to give him money.

Joseph was in contact with We Are With You from 2018.

He had an appointment on August 25, where he seemed “upbeat” and invited his father to accompany him for the first time.

Joseph tested positive for several drugs and was prescribed methadone.

But Mr Moorfield expressed concern that a staff member said she knew Joseph would go out to buy drugs that night and advised him not to inject them.

He said: “The first thing Joseph said when we walked out of the room was, ‘I can score now’. I think the words she used were inappropriate.”

Joseph spent the following day with his grandparents and asked to go to a bank, as he had received his benefit payment.

Joseph’s flat-mate Keiron Taylor – who did not attend court as requested – said in a statement that he saw him at home at around 11pm on August 26 and he was “absolutely smashed” after taking drugs.

He heard him snoring at 5am the following day, but when he had not seen him by 9.30pm, he went into his bedroom and found his body.

Tests carried out after his death showed he had taken several drugs, including methadone, cocaine, morphine, amphetamine, cannabis, benzodiazepines, pregabalin and anti-depressant mirtazapine.

Consultant pathologist Dr Naveen Sharma said these were at levels consistent with therapeutic or recreational use, but the combination of them had likely caused his death.

Det Insp Chris Horsfield detailed going to Joseph’s home, where the living room simply contained a sofa and his bedroom was “very messy” with clothes and debris on the floor, including broken glass and empty methadone bottles. He found no evidence of third party involvement.

Coroner Simon Nelson recorded Joseph’s death was drug related.

Speaking to his father, he said: “While I am not here to apportion blame, it is those who push the drugs who are to blame. Without him having a supply of drugs, you wouldn’t be in the situation you are in today and he wouldn’t have endured the misery that he did over the many months and years.”