A MAN was found dead in his York apartment, surrounded by drug paraphernalia, an inquest was told.

Police broke in to David Shepherd-Ward's home in Eboracum Way on May 22 after neighbours said they were worried because they hadn't seen him for about ten days, and they normally saw him every day.

Officers found the 52-year-old's body sitting upright on a sofa, with drug paraphernalia including burnt foil and needles on a table nearby.

The inquest heard that Mr Shepherd-Ward had a dependency on heroin and had had four overdoses between 2010 and 2019.

He also had a history of psychiatric problems.

In January this year, he had been treated for pneumonia in intensive care at York Hospital and required ventilation, but had subsequently 'disengaged from medical services.'

Experts told the inquest they had faced difficulties conducting a post mortem analysis and obtaining samples for toxicological analysis because of the amount of time taken before Mr Shepherd-Ward's body was discovered.

However, coroner Catherine Cundy said she was satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that his death could be attributed to drug misuse.