I SAT throughout the inquest hearing of Craig Edward Clarkson (Bolton News February 3 “Cocaine user found dead on floor by friend”).

I believe that a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist could not have condensed the proceedings of over an hour into the three-half columns and given a fair and balanced picture of the man and his life history.

Reference to the transcript will indicate at the outset of the testimony, I emphasised that I was a female friend, not his girlfriend in the conventionally accepted use of the term.

No reference was made to his zany, jovial, good nature and amusing ways.

He would do anybody a good turn and, as stated in testimony, appeared to be on the brink of turning his life round.

His many friends were disappointed that the report overlooked these attributes and erred on the side of sensationalism.

My opinion is that Craig wasn't portrayed in a true light. He was a kind and funny man who did various works for charity.

He has just been portrayed as some ‘junkie’, which is unfair and completely untrue.

Charlotte Clayton