A ‘POPULAR’ man was found dead by a friend in his West Moors home, an inquest heard.

Mathew Colin Harrison, 59, was found lying unresponsive on the floor by his friend who was living with and caring for him.

An inquest at Dorset Coroner’s Court heard Mathew was popular with “many friends in his life” but struggled with substance misuse and addiction.

His brother, Clive Harrison, told the court Mathew battled with a medical condition that made him vomit when eating or drinking.

It was said he had began abusing drugs since his early 20s and was drinking multiple bottles of wine a day leading up to his death.

“Mathew was not a bad person he just didn’t understand cause and effect,” said Mr Harrison.

“He knew drinking was bad for him because it would make him unwell, but he still did it.”

The court heard Mathew was admitted to hospital shortly before his death but was discharged after doctors could not find a reason to restrain him.

It was said his family was “frustrated” at the decision as they did not agree with him being sent back into the community.

“We cannot blame the hospital as NHS do not have the resources to treat people that want help let alone those that don’t,” said Mr Harrison.

Scott MacIntosh, operations manager at We Are With You, a charity supporting people with addiction, said Mathew referred himself to the service on November 6, 2023.

However, Mathew missed several appointments before he was admitted to hospital and the service were not able to support him.

The court heard Mathew was previously prescribed methadone, an opioid to treat drug addiction, by EDP Drug & Alcohol Service.

However, due to Mathew sporadically collecting his prescriptions, the service stopped them.

Kate Amberlie Davidson, Mathew’s friend, had known him for 18 years and had been living him for 11 months leading up to his death.

On December 2 she was set to move out of the property, in Bramble Court, West Moors, and for Clive to move instead, after struggling with Mathew’s addiction.

At around 10.30am she found Mathew unresponsive on the kitchen floor where he was later pronounced dead by paramedics.

Dr Blahurt, pathologist, found his medical cause of death to be an illicit drug and methadone toxicity.

Assistant coroner for Dorset, Richard Middleton, concluded his death to be drug related.