A MUM has accused a man of killing her son by forcibly injecting him with heroin, an inquest heard.

Anthony Beneduce, 28, a sheet metal worker at B&I Fabrications, Burnley, was found dead at a flat in Queen Victoria Road, Burnley, with an injection mark on his right hand.

A post mortem examination found that he had morphine in his system, along with alcohol and anti-depressants.

But his mum, Janice Beneduce, told an inquest in Burnley that she believed that Kevin Feeney, who owned the flat and discovered Mr Beneduce collapsed, had injected him with the drug.

The inquest was told that Mr Feeney had been questioned by police about Mr Beneduce's death after a witness claimed he had injected him with heroin. He denied the allegations at the hearing.

The inquest was also told that that Mr Feeney had been arrested on suspicion of murdering Jane Payne, who lived with him in Queen Victoria Road and had been there when Mr Beneduce died in February 2006, but was later released without charge.

Miss Payne, 29, a part-time prostitute, was found dead in a field in the remote Thursden Valley in May 2006.

A post mortem examination concluded that her death was either the result of a combination of alcohol and drugs or hypothermia.

An earlier inquest, held in November, had been adjourned after the coroner, Richard Taylor, issued a summons after Mr Feeney failed to attend the hearing.

Solicitor Geoff Ireland, acting on behalf of the Beneduce family, put it to the inquest that Mr Feeney had been involved in Mr Beneduce's death.

He said: "This is the third suspicious drugs related death that Mr Feeney has been involved in.

"The house where he was found was clean of drugs, which is a bit unusual and suspicious when someone is known to the police as being a drug user."

Mrs Beneduce told the inquest how she believed that her son, of Todmorden Road, Briercliffe, could not have injected himself.

She said: "Injection marks were found on his right hand and Anthony was right handed so was unlikely to have injected himelf. There is no way he would let anyone else inject him.

"The injection marks are not consistent with where he usually injected himself. If he was going to inject he would have done it early in the afternoon, not before he was about to come home for tea.

"I think he has attacked him. I don't know anything about Mr Feeney, but from the inconsistencies in what he said it seems that he is dishonest. Whether he just didn't like him or was jealous of Anthony's friendship with Jane I don't know."

Sgt Julian Wilkinson said that Mr Feeney had been questioned by the police about Mr Beneduce's death after they were told a witness saw Mr Feeney inject heroin into Mr Beneduce's arm, but no charges were brought.

Mr Feeney told the inquest how he had found Mr Beneduce collapsed in a chair after he returned from buying alcohol and called the emergency services.

He admitted taking drugs that day but denied injecting heroin into Mr Beneduce's hand to remove evidence of drugs before police arrived.

Pathologist Dr Walid Salman told the inquest in November that he believed that the principal factor in Mr Beneduce's death was morphine toxicity, with the alcohol and other drugs found in his system acting as minor contributory factors.

But Mrs Beneduce said the amount of morphine found in his system was only a medicinal amount which she believed could not have killed him.

She said that heroin could only have had that effect when combined with another medical condition. She said that her son was undergoing tests for a condition known as Acromegaly.

It is a condition caused by excessive production of growth hormone. It can cause the facial bones and hands to grow to excess, weight gain and organ enlargement. If not treated it can lead to diabetes and eventually chronic heart failure.

She also told the inquest that her son had suffered from problems with depression and drugs but he had been treated and was on the road to recovery.

Coroner Mr Taylor said:"We will never know what exactly happened on the day of his death. But the certain fact no one can argue with is that heroin was found in his system. There is some doubt how it got into his system and what involvement Kevin Feeney had.

"Mr Feeney came to court and denied that had any involvement with his death so to return a verdict that he was injected goes a step too far - that would be too much of a leap of faith. So I have no other option than to record an open verdict. He could have been injected with or against his will so my hands are tied."

Speaking after the inquest, Mrs Beneduce said: "An open verdict is the best we could have hoped for. I feel relieved that there is some closure but we are never going to know what did happen.

"But I suppose I have a sense of relief that the inquest has finally got to this stage."

Lancashire police said that they were not re-opening the investigation into Mr Beneduce's death but would consider doing so if new information emerged.