A MAN suffering from a mental illness died after taking a lethal cocktail of alcohol and medication, an inquest has heard.

Frank Richardson, 41, of Carlton Street, Nelson, died on June 3.

His father William Fox told the hearing that he went round to check on his son after he failed to pick up his car from the garage.

His best friend Andrew Charles Lawman, of Fern Bank Court, Nelson, said he had been at at Mr Richardson's the previous night where he had consumed around eight bottles of Stella. It is thought that when Mr Richardson became intoxicated he mis-calculated his medication and took more than his prescribed dose.

East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor, speaking at Burnley Magistrates Court, said: "Sadly the death was a result of a fatal cocktail of drugs and alcohol.

"There's no evidence whatsoever that anything here has been done deliberately.

"I have a picture of somebody who was looking forward to the holiday he was going to take with his parents.

"He enjoyed a drink although he was prescribed a number of different medications because of various difficulties which he took regularly morning and evening.

"He had no problems that night and did not seem down, in fact he seemed quite happy although he'd had far too much to drink.

"Tragically when having taken that drink he's taken rather too much medication." He returned a verdict of accidental death.