SEVERE drug abuse has been ruled to be the cause of death for a Marlborough man during an inquest by the Wiltshire coroner.

Christopher Angelo Crawford, 32, of Manton Close, was found at his home on September 11 after taking a combination of prescribed diazepam and a self-administered dose of heroin.

Deputy Coroner for Swindon and Wiltshire Peter Hatvany read out a statement from neighbour of Mr Crawford, Jacqueline Comley, which said: “Mr Crawford’s brother Matthew had asked her to go round to Christopher’s house to check on him as he had not answered his messages or his calls. She went over to the house and noticed that the lights were on in the front room.

“She looked through the window and saw Mr Crawford lying on the sofa with his back to her and called out to him. She reached through the window to shake him but she felt he was cold and his hands were black.”

Mr Crawford's body showed signs that he had been dead for a while before being found as his skin had started to turn black.

A month before his death Mr Crawford was assaulted by Damion Powell, who was with a group of friends, as he left a high street pub in the town when Powell punched him then continued to kick him in the head as he lay on the floor. Powell was sentenced to eight months in prison by Swindon Crown Court for causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Crawford, but Mr Hatvany stated the incident had no direct link to the death during the inquest.

The inquest heard how Detective Sean Tragunna arrived and searched the home to check for any signs of burglary. There were no signs of forced entry to the home and police officers discovered the house to be poorly maintained with post piling up at the door as well as a large amount of kitchenware left unwashed in the sink. When the detective entered the front room he noted that the television was still on and there was cannabis, tobacco and rolling papers on the table next to Mr Crawford.

In a statement from Helen Crawford, Mr Crawford’s mother who lives in Scotland, it said: “He was traumatised by the death of a school friend when he was a teenager. When he passed his driving test at the age of 18 he crashed into a wall and injured his friends who were passengers in the car, he blamed himself for that and started to self-harm.”

The court heard how Mr Crawford had later been diagnosed with schizophrenic personality disorder as well as suffering from anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, later followed by drug and alcohol abuse.

In 2009 Mr Crawford served a custodial sentence following two armed robberies in Swindon, then in 2014 was charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer and one count of being drunk whilst in control of a minor.

When assessed in 2015 Mr Crawford was filed as showing no signs of acute mental illness by the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership. Whilst being assessed Mr Crawford stated that he suffered from nightmares from his time in prison and that when he woke from them he had intense feeling of anger, causing him to want to self-harm.

Dr Russell Delaney, the coroner who carried out the post-mortem, stated: “The cause of death was primarily caused by the mixture of heroin and Diazepam in his system.”

Mr Hatvany concluded that the cause of death was a direct result of the mixture of the drugs in his system, stating that there is no sign to show that it was an intentional overdose and that there was no third party involvement.