A cocktail of drugs and alcohol led to the death of a father-of-one while he was asleep, an inquest was told.

Nick Collins, of Lismore Green, Worcester, was found dead on October 23, 2010, at his friend Shawn Smith’s flat in London Road, Worcester.

Giving evidence, Mr Smith said he and the former Pershore High School pupil had eaten together at his flat the night before and consumed alcohol when Mr Collins made a line of unidentified white powder and snorted it.

Mr Smith told the inquest that he asked the 25-year-old not to have any more of the substance in respect of his recovery from drug addiction. Mr Collins agreed and asked if he could stay the night. He fell asleep on the floor in front of a fire.

The following morning, Mr Smith was unable to rouse Mr Collins and said his face was cold when he touched it.

A post mortem revealed Mr Collins, who was on anti-depressants, had no physical abnormalities and toxicology results showed he had therapeutic levels of prescription drugs diazepam and citalopram in his body.

They also highlighted a blood alcohol level of 110mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood – 80mg is the limit for drivers – and 0.14mg of methadone, which would not be lethal to someone regularly prescribed the drug, but could cause potentially fatal “respiratory depression” in a casual user.

Father Alan Collins, who was present at the inquest with Mr Collins’ ex-partner and mother of his child Sam Williams, said “things were looking up” for his son who had recently started a job as a manager of a cleaning company and had a new car.

Worcestershire Coroner Geraint Williams concluded the combination of alcohol and methadone and Mr Collins’ asthma had caused respiratory failure. He recorded a verdict of death through the non-dependent abuse of drugs and alcohol Speaking after the inquest, Alan Collins said: “Nick was just a good lad. It shouldn’t have happened.”