A SOUTHAMPTON man died after taking an overdose of painkillers.

An inquest heard how Colin Hinder was found by his partner Karen Hobbs in the porch of their Montague Close home on July 31last year.

Ms Hobbs roused the 55-year old who she believed was drunk.

Mr Hinder followed her into the kitchen and slumped over the sink where he told her he was going to be sick.

“I left him to get over it,” Ms Hobbs said. “When I got back he was on the floor in the kitchen.”

The drainage engineer was then put on the sofa to sleep.

“I went in every so often to check on him and he was breathing and snoring.”

Ms Hobbs then left Mr Hinder asleep.

When Ms Hobbs returned in the morning she found that he was cold, and unresponsive.

She called for an ambulance and performed CPR until it arrived, however, he was pronounced dead on the scene not long after.

Mr Hinder had been suffering with chronic back pain in his lower back and groin for two years and had to give up work.

He had been prescribed several painkillers to manage the symptoms, but despite doctors best efforts the cause of the pain could not be found.

A toxicology report from Jen Green Lewis revealed that Mr Hinder had taken an overdose of his pain medication and was 1.2 times the drink-drive limit at the time of his death.

Pathologist Dr Victoria Elliot concluded that the medical cause of death was a mixed drug overdose.

PC Kyle Belcher said that he did not find anything suspicious at the house and did not recover a suicide note.

A report from GP S Benning also stated that Mr Hinter had no prior history of mental health issues or self-harm.

Coroner Grahame Short said: “I cannot say what was on Colin’s mind when he took those tablets. He could have taken more because of the alcohol or it’s possible it was a question of reaching the stage where he could no longer deal with the pain, but I cannot be sure of this.”

Mr Short concluded that Mr Hinder’s death was drug related.

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