Former prisoner died of heroin overdose at his Shropshire home
A former prisoner died of a heroin overdose in his home near Whitchurch.
Ian Roberts, 36, of Grindley Brook, was found dead at his home on the morning of February 4 this year.
An inquest held yesterday at Shirehall in Shrewsbury, heard that the day before his death Mr Roberts had been seen to be in good spirits and was talking about how keen he was to return to work.
Mr Roberts had last been seen alive at breakfast time by his girlfriend.
A couple of hours later at 11.15am, a friend arrived to take him shopping and found him crouched on the floor of his bedroom with his knees to his chest. She tried to wake him and noticed that he was blue.
Mr John Ellery, coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, heard that she tried to call an ambulance but had no signal on her mobile phone. Instead she ran next door to a garage and an ambulance was called.
Paramedics attended the address and pronounced Mr Roberts dead at the scene.
A post mortem was carried out and high levels of heroin were found in his body.
In reaching his conclusion Mr Ellery said that Mr Roberts died of a drugs-related death and had not intended to kill himself.
Speaking at the inquest, Mr Roberts' father said that his son had been failed by a number of agencies since his release from prison and had not been successful in obtaining the correct mental health support.
