HEROIN addict John Steven Catlow literally rotted to death rather than seek medical help.

An inquest heard that he died as a result of infection introduced into his body probably by contaminated needles.

And a family friend told how on her last visit to his home she could actually smell rotting flesh as he sat suffering from deep, infected ulcers and an abscess on his swollen arm.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said it was a constant source of amazement to her that anyone could be persuaded that taking illicit drugs was a good idea. "Not only did this man take drugs that would have poisoned his body and lowered his resistance to infection, but the method he chose has poisoned his body as well," she added. "This should serve as a warning that not only do the drugs themselves have potentially fatal consequences, if the equipment used is not scrupulously clean, even sterile, that in itself can have equally dire consequences."

Mr Catlow, 37, lived in Park Road with his partner Allison Booth. She said she had known him for 20 years and he had taken drugs for all of that time.

She said he had been ill for several days before his death and she and other friends had begged him to go to hospital. The day before he died he had sat watching television and smoking heroin.

Family friend Lisa Dwyer, of Stanley Street, Accrington, called at their home on May 23 and had to knock and wait for Miss Booth to come downstairs to answer the door. The two women entered the living room and saw Mr Catlow slumped in a chair, clearly dead.

Miss Dwyer said Mr Catlow had not been well. "He had big abscesses and holes in his arm," said Miss Dwyer. "One of the abscesses was green and you could smell the rotting flesh."

A post mortem examination revealed the presence of morphine and methadone in Mr Catlow's blood. He gave the cause of death as toxicity of morphine and methadone, infected injection sites leading to septicaemia, toxaemia and bronchopneumonia.