A HEROIN user found dead in a Worcester supermarket toilet may have been discovered sooner if staff had performed the proper checks, an inquest heard.

The body of Craig Addison was discovered in a disabled toilet cubicle at the Sainsbury's store in Swanpool Walk, St John's, Worcester, as previously reported in the Worcester News.

An inquest into the 33-year-old's death was held at Worcestershire Coroner's Court in Stourport today (Wednesday).

A postmortem and toxicology analysis showed he died of respiratory depression caused by the use of methadone and morphine or heroin.

Mr Addison, who had been living at St Paul's Hostel in Worcester, was recorded on CCTV entering the toilet at around 6.30pm on December 3 last year but he was not recorded leaving. He died sometime before 6.57am the follow.

Mr Addison's body was found by cleaner Philip Kupfer the following morning after he opened the locked toilet door. He noticed at 4am the door was locked from the inside and thought initially it was occupied by a member of staff before he returned later that morning to discover the body.

Mr Kupfer, who had been working at the store for a week, said: "The first thing I saw was a body lying on the floor.  He did not look like he was moving or anything. I was shocked and ran back out of the toilet area to the main shop floor."

A paramedic later pronounced Mr Addison dead at the scene.

Stuart Kirk, a friend of Mr Addison, described him as 'badgering him for methadone' which he eventually gave him before the two parted company on the day of his death.

Mr Kirk, who had been clean of heroin for five months, had talked to Mr Addison about giving up drugs.

In a statement he said: "He started badgering me for my methadone. I never gave him any any until that day."

Mr Kirk said of Mr Addison's death: "I cried for four days. He was my only friend. He was the kindest person I ever met. I used to look up to him as a father figure even though he was younger than me."

The store manager for the last 18 months, Darren Bodycote, said the doors to the supermarket were locked after the store was closed to the public at 10pm but there were staff in the store 24 hours a day.

He said tannoy annoucements informed customers when the store was closing and the security staff also reminded customers. But he said it was ultimately the manager's responsibility to check customers had left (the task of the manager who worked between 3pm and 11pm).

Mr Bodycote said: "What happened in this incident was the security guard was asked if the toilet had been checked. He said it had been.

That is not what I would allow now but that is what happened on the day of the incident."

He said he now checked the toilet and the shop floor to make sure there were no customers still inside at closing time and his colleagues were doing the same.

At the time of the incident he said there had been a relatively new manager in charge of the store but that procedures were now 'more robust'.

"I did a thorough investigation following the incident. The security company is a third party company. There's a formal document he (the security guard) has signed to say the toilet had been checked and was clear. During the interview I found that had not been checked." He added: "That individual does not work at the store anymore."

Toilets are supposed to be checked every hour. Mr Bodycote said: "What should have happened is what happens now. The incident raised the importance of the toilet checks."

Mr Addison's step-father Richard Griffiths said if Sainsbury's had performed the checks 'he might not have been saved but he could have died with some dignity - he would have been found earlier'.

Worcestershire coroner Geraint Williams said: "It is clear from the evidence that the usual checks carried out at the store had not been undertaken as they should have been.

"It is not possible to say whether, if they had had been, the outcome would have been any different.  At the very least he would not have been left to lie in a toilet all night in the Sainsbury's store in Swanpool Walk."

Mr Williams recorded a conclusion that Mr Addison died as a result of the abuse of drugs.