A man was found dead at his home just days after hearing the tragic news that his mother was suffering from a terminal illness. Robert David Courtney, 35, was discovered in his bedroom on December 1, 2022, in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.
He could not be saved by paramedics in the home he shared with his grandmother, Joan Owen, reports LancsLive. The family of the dad-of-two, who "adored his kids", paid tribute to Robert, following an inquest in to his death.
A coroner ruled that his death was drug-related as the inquest heard that he had been out with his brother, Craig, on November 29, and spent much of the following day resting at home. When his sibling called to check on him he responded: "I'm not well, I'm not well".
The inquest heard his brother visited Robert and informed him to "get some sleep". "He would normally sleep it off and wake up in the morning and say he'll never do it again," he said in a statement. His grandmother, Joan, was then visited by her sister and went to check on Robert the following morning.
He had been heard snoring and was assumed to be sleeping but Joan went to check on her grandson as he hadn't surfaced by around 1pm. As she entered his room she "immediately knew something was wrong". Paramedics were called but he was pronounced dead.
Preston Coroner's Court heard at an inquest on Monday, April 24, 2023, that Robert had taken on a new job delivering parts for cars. Craig said his brother had been using cocaine for years, it was said in a statement, but that Robert had reported being clean for weeks. Craig noted his brother could go a week without taking the drug but would "go on a bender".
Assistant Coroner Laura Fox, who concluded the drug-related death, said: "He had a long history of drug abuse. Toxicology tests tragically confirmed that his blood concentration of total morphine was within the range encountered in fatalities associated with the use of heroin."
The inquest was attended by Robert's family including another brother, Michael, and his partner, as well as the mother of Robert's two children. They revealed that days before Robert's death, he found out his own mother was terminally ill and she passed away five days after her son.
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