An inquest into the death of a schoolboy said to have been killed by a methadone overdose aged 14 will be limited in its scope after a court battle.

Edward Barry was found dead in the flat of a friend in Gravesend in November 2009, London’s High Court heard, and a toxicologist has linked it to an overdose.

His death was foreshadowed by a "number of troubled months", Mr Justice Foskett told the court, with a "downward spiral" involving arrests for shoplifting, drug-taking, and "absence from home".

He was also thought to have been "associating with street drinkers and drug-takers", the court heard.

Kent County Council's social services department was first involved in Edward's case nine months before he died and a serious case review (SCR) was commissioned after the tragedy by the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

The confidential review set out a "large number of shortcomings on the part of the council", said Mr Justice Foskett.

"In the light of the SCR review the claimant [council] apologised unreservedly to the family and told them what steps they would take to remedy their practices for the future," the judge added.

But the case reached the High Court as lawyers for Kent challenged decisions taken by the coroner for North West Kent to sit with a jury in the forthcoming inquest.

Also under attack was the coroner's decision to direct the jury to consider whether Edward's death was contributed to by the council's failure to "protect and safeguard" his life.

Edward’s parents were legally represented in court as "interested parties" in the case.

Mr Justice Foskett, sitting with Judge Peter Thornton QC, considered both issues and ruled that the inquest can proceed before a jury.

However, he backed the council's case that there is "no scope" for the jury to consider whether Edward's "right to life" was breached by failings on its part.

"We do not consider that the evidence justifies the conclusion that any general duty or operational duty was arguably breached in this case," he told the court.