A WESTON man accidentally killed himself by mixing large amounts of prescription drugs with alcohol, a coroner has ruled.

Anthony McFadyen was found dead on October 17, 2011, having been admitted to Weston General Hospital the night before for treatment to self-inflicted wounds on his arms.

An inquest at Flax Bourton Coroners Court on February 7 heard that the 37-year-old had moved to Weston in May 2009 when he had been admitted to a residential rehab centre with a history of alcohol dependency and heroin use.

After battling with his alcohol addiction and depression, he eventually moved to a house in Ashcombe Road where homeless people were referred by North Somerset Council.

He continued to drink and self-harm, and was prescribed diazepam to try to wean him off his alcohol dependency.

Having drunk a large quantity of alcohol, he was admitted to Weston General Hospital late on October 16 with lacerations to his arms and pancreatic pain.

He discharged himself in the early hours of October 17 after receiving a prescription of the painkiller codeine.

He was found laying on his bed at the house in Ashcombe Road by the facility manager later that day, and was pronounced dead there by paramedics at 3.55pm.

Assistant deputy coroner Terence Moore ruled out a verdict of suicide, as he said he could not be sure that Mr McFadyen had meant to take his own life.

Adding that the codeine he had taken for his arm wounds or pancreatic pain had added to the diazepam and alcohol already in his system, Mr Moore ruled: “In these circumstances and on the balance of probabilities I say that this was an accidental death.”