A father-of-three died at a shopping centre after overdosing on morphine, an inquest has heard.

Josh Drewett died after falling ill at County Square in Ashford, sparking a huge emergency response.

An inquest into his death opened today at County Hall in Maidstone, where it was heard that Mr Drewett had been seen on security cameras leaving the disabled toilet at the centre of the mall with another man.

As the pair were followed by the cameras, the 31-year-old was seen to stagger and fall down upon reaching the Select clothing store in the shopping centre’s extension.

Security staff went to assist him, and reported that while he was breathing regularly, he was making odd sounds.

Mr Drewett subsequently fell asleep, causing the security guards to put him in the recovery position while phoning for the emergency services.

Police, ambulance, and the air ambulance attended at about 6pm, and all of the entrances to the centre were blocked off during the incident on January 26.

As police arrived at the scene, Mr Drewett stopped breathing, and despite attempts at CPR by paramedics, he was declared dead at the scene.

A subsequent post-mortem listed his cause of death as a morphine overdose.

A 45-year-old man from Maidstone was arrested in connection with a possible drugs offence, but was later released without charge.

Tributes were paid to Mr Drewett in January, who has three children named Lola, Charlie-Joe, and Skylar-Rose.

His former partner and mother to his children, Bethany Millen, said: "He loved his kids very much.

"Josh had a lot going on in his life but he was amazing and will be missed loads."

A spokesman for County Square added its team's "thoughts and prayers are with those affected in what are undoubtedly difficult times”.