Accrington drug addict who’d been clean for eight months died after heroin relapse

A 41-YEAR-OLD man who had rebuilt his life after years of drug addiction died when he overdosed on heroin during a relapse.

Daniel Bartlett’s body was found at his home in India Street, Accrington, on February 3, four days after he was last seen.

At an inquest in Preston, coroner James Newman said police forced entry to his flat after receiving calls from concerned friends.

Mr Newman said: “Daniel attended a narcotics anonymous meeting with his support worker, John Maxwell, on January 26.

“In a text conversation on January 29, he told Mr Maxwell he was working voluntarily for the drug service, Inspire.

“Mr Maxwell was happy and had no concerns with Daniel as he seemed to be recovering well.

“However, Daniel’s friend, Ian Pilkington, who had last seen him around 2pm on January 29, said he became worried when another friend called to say she couldn’t contact him.”

Police were called and found Mr Bartlett dead surrounded by drug paraphernalia.

Detective Inspector James Lilystone who attended the scene said: “An examination of the body showed rigor mortis had set in and because of the presence of drug paraphernalia, including needles, my opinion was that the cause of death was likely to be related to this.”

In a statement provided by Mr Bartlett’s sister, Leigh Todd, she said after her brother lost a partner to drugs he went to rehab, was doing really well and had been clean for eight months.

Mr Newman said: “Daniel suffered with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and had a long history of substance dependency but had tried to stay away from that lifestyle, and following his last stint in rehab he’d done incredibly well.

“The trouble with dependency is that it’s a crutch and those with dependencies could always relapse.

“Between January 29 and February 2 he had done just that, and self-administered heroin.

“When in rehab, tolerance to a drug is lost very quickly, therefore an amount that he had been used to in the past may have been too high for him once clean, and I believe that is what happened.

“Daniel died from cardio-respiratory depression caused by a heroin overdose.

“He had successfully detoxed, but relapsed.

“I record a conclusion of drug related death.”