A HEAVY night of drinking led to the death of a 29-year-old man, an inquest heard yesterday (Wednesday). Simon Dedrick, 29, of Cotlandswick in London Colney, was found dead in the home of his friend and neighbour Trudy Gray on November 26 last year after having

A HEAVY night of drinking led to the death of a 29-year-old man, an inquest heard (yesterday).

Simon Dedrick, 29, of Cotlandswick in London Colney, was found dead in the home of his friend and neighbour Trudy Gray on November 26 last year after having drunk copious amounts of alcohol the day before.

Simon, whose brother, sister and mother attended his inquest, had a history of alcohol-related problems and his GP Dr Ozan Adali wrote in a witness statement that Simon was in a "depressive state" at the start of 2009.

Simon, who was admitted to The Albany Lodge in St Albans for a brief period in January last year, spent the evening drinking with Trudy and her boyfriend Steven Montgomery and in her witness statement, Trudy said that as the night wore on Simon got, "more and more drunk".

Eventually Simon became too drunk to stand and Steven helped him to Trudy's sofa in the living room, where he promptly fell asleep and started "snoring his head off", according to Trudy. She and her boyfriend shut the living room door and continued drinking, leaving him to sleep.

Steven discovered Simon was cold to the touch the next morning and called the paramedics, who pronounced Simon dead shortly afterwards. Det Sgt Oliver Johnston, who accompanied the ambulance to Trudy's home, said that from his initial inspection of the body, "there were was nothing to suggest any foul play at all".

Pathologist Dr Aidan O'Reilly, who conducted the post-mortem, concluded that Simon died of respiratory failure due to aspiration of gastric contents as a result of alcohol abuse. He recorded an alcohol blood level of 367ml/100ml, which he said in his witness statement "may have proved fatal".

Assistant deputy coroner for Herts Dr Frances Cranfield recorded a verdict of death by misadventure and extended her "sincere condolences" to Simon's family and added: "I know that Simon's death will have caused a lot of distress and will continue to do so and for that I am very sorry.