A MAN found dead outside a flat in Darwen died after long-term alcohol abuse' caused liver disease, an inquest has heard.

Gordon Page, 37, of no fixed address, was discovered dead outside the Hawthorne Avenue home of a friend he had been staying with in December.

Initial police inquiries treated the death as a crime, but the inquest heard how a post mortem examination revealed no signs that a third party had been involved.

Instead, tests on Mr Page's body by consultant pathologist Dr Richard Prescott found that he had more than four times the legal drink-drive limit of alcohol in his blood.

The inquest, attended by his mother, Susan Hamilton, of Rhyl, North Wales, and his brother Scott, of Nelson, heard how Mr Page had previously lived at Dickinson Close, Blackburn, but he had effectively been made homeless and was staying with various friends in Darwen.

Mr Page, who was born in Blackburn, had been working as a bar cellarman. He was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2003 and regularly suffered blackouts. His body was found on Saturday, December 3.

The inquest heard how Mr Page had been drinking with friends the night before, and his body was discovered by a neighbour who went out to walk his dog and buy a newspaper in the morning. His shirt and jacket were undone and his shoes were lying by his side. His brother identified his body.

A statement read out in the hearing by a friend of Mr Page described him as an alcoholic'.

Coroner Michael Singleton said: "Gordon Page had consumed a large quantity of alcohol at a time when the liver disease meant his body's ability to deal with it had been compromised and so caused his collapse and ultimately his demise."

The cause of death was recorded as ethanol toxicity and cirrhosis of the liver, and the verdict was misadventure.