A self-confessed junkie who looked after tragic teenager Edward Barry in the hours before he died thought he was just drunk.

James Drummond, 29 at the time, said he did not bother calling an ambulance because he thought the 14-year-old (pictured right) - known to his friends as Ed - would sleep it off, an inquest has heard.

Mr Drummond said he had kicked heroin four years before Ed's death, but was on prescription methadone.

Speaking at the inquest into Ed Barry's death, he was asked by Chris Sutton-Mattocks, counsel for the coroner, whether he had a problem with drugs, to which he replied 'yes'.

Mr Drummond had been smoking since he was 12, started heroin when he was 17 and was a self-confessed methadone and valium addict.

Previously living in America, where Mr Drummond had seen another of his friends die from drugs, he returned to the UK and started drinking and taking methadone.

The drug, used to wean people off heroin, was prescribed to him by KCA, which deals with drug and alcohol addiction.

Mr Drummond first met Ed in Lord Street car park, Gravesend, a popular spot for skaters.

He invited him back to his Parrock Street flat one day and they smoked weed, watched television and played computer games.

"he was passed out outside my flat. i dragged him in and put him in the recovery position and put a pillow under his head and covered him in a blanket..." – james drummond

He said: "Sometimes he'd stay; sometimes he'd come and smoke a joint for an hour."

By November, Ed had effectively moved in and was sleeping on a beanbag.

Mr Drummond added: "The first time he just ended up crashing there, but after that he said he was having problems at home and couldn't live there so I said he could stay at my flat for a period of time.

"I'd like to state that I never asked him for any money, I was just trying to help."

The night before his death, Mr Drummond said Ed was devastated about the break up with his girlfriend and was crying and punching the walls.

The next day the pair left the flat.

Mr Drummond left to visit his mother and grandmother while Ed, who did not have a key to get back into the flat, headed to a skate park in Dartford.

Returning at about 10pm, Mr Drummond found Ed had made it through the communal front door and was slumped by his door inside.

He added: "He was passed out outside my flat. I dragged him in and put him in the recovery position and put a pillow under his head and covered him in a blanket."

Mr Drummond, who said he had never seen Ed so intoxicated, then drank until 2am and checked Ed roughly every 45 minutes.

"I said 'you alright?' and he said 'yeah' but he couldn't really talk properly. He didn't move throughout the night and he wasn't moving around a lot.

"I believed he was under the influence of alcohol, but not hard drugs.

"He'd had too much to drink and would sleep it off.

"If I saw signs of him using hard drugs I would have called an ambulance."

At about noon the next day, Ed remained in the same position and when Mr Drummond checked on him, he was cold to the touch. He called 999.

"I was pretty sure he was deceased and I told the person on the phone that, ‘I'm pretty sure he's dead’."

A bottle of half-empty methadone was found on the kitchen counter about six feet from where Ed was found dead.

A post mortem revealed Ed died from a fatal overdose.

Mr Drummond insisted he never gave Ed the drug and if he had taken it, he would have taken it during the night without his consent.

The jury inquest at Gravesend's Old Town Hall continues.