A MALE stripper plunged into despair by the death of his wife ended up dying in a drug-induced sleep.

An inquest heard that Ian Marshall and his wife were running a bar in Benidorm when she was killed in a road traffic accident.

The 36-year-old then drank the bar dry before abandoning everything and setting off across Europe.

He made it to "somewhere in Scandinavia" before suffering a breakdown and ended up being flown back to the UK where he was admitted to Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn.

The tale of Mr Marshall's decline was told by Richard McCoughey, who met him in Queen's Park where the two became friends. He was with Mr Marshall at his flat in Bridge House, Kings Bridge Wharf, Blackburn, when he died in his sleep.

A subsequent post-mortem examination showed that Mr Marshall had taken a cocktail of heroin, cannabis and diazepam. These would have slowed his breathing and there were signs that he had then slumped forward in his chair.

The medical cause of death was given as postural asphyxia with morphine toxicity contributing.

Mr McCoughey said when he went to see Mr Marshall in January he could tell he had taken heroin and he admitted having taken some diazepam.

Mr Marshall had asked him to hide a spoon and syringe he had used to prepare and inject heroin because he was expecting a visit from his social worker and didn't want him to find them.

The social worker called and decided not to disturb Mr Marshall who was "snoring" in the chair.

Later Mr McCoughey tried to wake his friend but failed and immediately called for an ambulance. Paramedics said he was already dead. Mr Marshall's sister, Deborah Lee, said her brother had worked as a stripper as had his wife. They were running a bar in Benidorm when she was killed.

"He loved her so much and he was devastated by her death," said Mrs Lee.

Coroner Michael Singleton recorded a misadventure verdict.