A MAN who had “significant difficulties” with substance misuse and struggled with his mental health, died after taking cocaine, an inquest heard.

Ryan Charters, 37, of Workington, died at the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven on June 25 last year.

An inquest into his death held at Cockermouth Coroners’ Court heard that Mr Charters was brought up in Moorclose, Workington, and went into care.

He lived in care homes all over the country before going to live with his dad, who later died. His brother, David Charters, said he never got over his dad’s death.

Mr Charters was a roofer and worked in the building trade. He loved football and Rugby League and was a Newcastle United fan.

The inquest heard a statement from Cheryl Parker, who was with Mr Charters on June 20, last year.

She said Mr Charters was dropped off at her house on Rectory Square in Distington at around 4pm. He was talking about his auntie dying and had about six or seven cans of Gordons’ pink gin.

Ms Parker said he “kept putting his hands in his pockets” and “popping pills”. He asked her to get more cans so she bought him four more.

She said they were up talking for hours. It got to the early hours of the morning and Ms Parker went to get him some pillows. She then saw he had turned blue.

She began screaming and told Wayne Cullum, who was also in the property, to get him in the recovery position.

A statement from the North West Ambulance Service said they attended the incident, and found Mr Charters in cardiac arrest. He was taken to the West Cumberland Hospital.

Dr Hobson, a consultant in the intensive care unit, said Mr Charters had been admitted to A&E following a drug overdose and had been in cardiac arrest.

He was transferred to the ICU. A CT scan revealed that Mr Charters had suffered a significant hypoxic brain injury. He passed away on June 25.

A statement from Recovery Steps said Mr Charters had been prescribed methadone. He found it difficult to engage with treatment and was struggling with his mental health.

The NHS Trust responsible for his care said he had long-standing difficulties with Polysubstance misuse.

A toxicology report revealed that Mr Charters had taken a number of drugs, and had a high level of Benzoylecgonine – the body breakdown product of cocaine – in his blood.

The inquest heard that the cocaine use was enough to cause his death.

A post-mortem report found that Mr Charters had coronary artery atheroma – a build-up of fat in the arteries around the heart.

The cause of death was given as cocaine use with coronary artery atheroma as a contributing factor.

Mr Charters also had pneumonia at the time of his death.

In his concluding statement, coroner Robert Cohen said: “The cocaine was particularly relevant.

“Ryan had blocking of coronary arteries that would have contributed to his death.”

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