A man who was found dead in a town centre was a recovering drugs addict, an inquest has heard.

Douglas Finden was found slumped in the stairwell of Market Hall car park, in High Street, Chatham, on June 3.

The 55-year-old was discovered by a police officer, near Go Outdoors on The Brook with a wound on his head and surrounded by a "pool of blood" after a member of the public called 999.

An inquest at Maidstone's Archbishop Palace on Wednesday told how Mr Finden, of Eva Road, Gillingham, had battled drug addiction his whole life, first using illegal substances at the age of 17, and would drink around five cans of beer or lager a day.

His cause of death was given as fatal morphine consumption and pneumonia, brought on by drugs misuse, mental health troubles and alcohol misuse.

The court heard how the odd job man was last seen at around 8.30am by his on-and-off partner of 30 years Lisa Chilton, who he had been living with at the time of his death.

A statement read from Miss Chilton explained how things "went down hill" in 2015 when the deceased "got in with the wrong crowd and was taken advantage of" by others who would use his Gillingham flat to take drugs.

"I'm sorry to have to see you here today." - Coroner Joanne Andrews

This also lead to Mr Finden losing his accommodation.

The Chatham born man had also struggled with mental health problems and had previously tried to take his own life after "hearing voices in his head".

He spent a few years in prison and when released in 2017 lived in Sheerness for a couple of years where he worked on his addictions and showed "significant signs of improvement," before moving back to Medway last year.

On the day of his death Mr Finden was dropped off in Chatham town centre where he was meant to attended a meeting at the jobs centre. However, DS Sanderson, who worked the case, revealed he did not show up.

His body was later discovered at around 1pm and he was pronounced dead by paramedics at 1.35pm.

Coroner Joanne Andrews concluded Mr Finden's death was drug related.

When addressing his family after, she said: "I am so very, terribly sorry for your loss. He was making great progress with his addictions. I'm sorry to have to see you here today."

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