THE parents of a man with a history of drug problems found their son dead from a heroin overdose when they tried to wake him for work.

And coroner Simon Noon has warned other drug users to take heed.

Bakery worker David Noon, aged 30, of Hanover Street, Leigh, was found face down on his knees in the bedroom with a syringe next to his hand and empty cans of beer on the floor.

The father of two, whose marriage had broken down two years earlier, was described as a hard worker and otherwise fit and healthy.

But the inquest heard he had suffered two overdoses of pills, the last one shortly before his death when he combined pills with alcohol.

His father, Mr James Noon, revealed his son's drug problem started at the age of 16 with a glue-sniffing habit which lasted 12 months. Then, six months before his son's death, Mr Noon found syringes in his bedroom, along with paperwork relating to a period of probation and a questionnaire on unlawful drug use. Recording a misadventure verdict, acting coroner Mr Nelson said: "It is only a pity that what has happened to your son doesn't serve as a lesson to the many other people in this area who are undertaking the same kind of activity."