A POLICE officer tragically died the morning after attending his father-in-law’s wake, in what a coroner described as a ‘double tragedy’.

David Howsden, 47, of Surrey, was discovered unresponsive on January 11 while staying with his partner’s family in Armathwaite following the funeral.

An inquest into his death held at Cockermouth Coroner’s Court was told Mr Howsden had developed severe neck problems 15 years ago and the condition was still debilitating.

He had to give up sport and move to light duties in his job as a police officer. He had various medications for pain management and eventually had surgery in 2014.

Mr Howsden managed his pain with Fentanyl patches. After suffering with unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, he went to see his GP about reducing the original dosage and this was reduced. He continued to struggle with pain control, the inquest heard.

Leading up to his death, Mr Howsden was in Cumbria with his partner, Natasha Henry, to attend her dad’s funeral on January 10. They were staying with Ms Henry’s mum.

A wake was held and the family then went to The Fox & Pheasant Inn where Mr Howsden had some alcohol.

They left the pub at closing time and went back to the house. Ms Henry went to bed but Mr Howsden remained downstairs.

He later went up to bed and stayed in the bedroom previously used by Ms Henry’s dad. When Ms Henry got up in the morning she looked in on Mr Howsden and saw he was lying on his side on top of the covers.

She couldn’t wake him and it was clear there was something wrong. An ambulance was called and Ms Henry got a defibrillator from a nearby school. But Mr Howsden could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead.

Some tablets were found in Mr Howsden’s trouser pockets and laptop bag, which had not been prescribed to him. He did not have a prescribed patch on him.

A toxicology report showed a social amount of alcohol and a number of substances but the levels were all low and in therapeutic ranges.

A pathologist gave the cause of death as drug misuse and found coronary artery atherosclerosis contributed to Mr Howsden’s death.

But Craig Smith, assistant coroner for Cumbria, said it was clear that the level of drugs were in low, therapeutic levels and while it would have had some sedative effect, it was not likely to be significant. He did not find that it would have been a causative factor in Mr Howsden’s death.

Mr Smith said an occlusion found in Mr Howsden’s coronary artery was significant and a cardiac episode was a more probable cause of death, not drug misuse. He gave the cause of death as coronary artery atherosclerosis.

The coroner recorded a narrative conclusion, which said: “David Howsden was found unresponsive in a bedroom where he had been staying.

“He suffered for a number of years with a neck problems.

“A toxicology report found a number of medications and a social amount of alcohol, all in low, therapeutic ranges.

“It may have had a sedative effect but not likely significant to lead to respiratory depression. Occlusion to a coronary artery is more probable. Mr Howsden’s death was due to a coronary episode.”

Mr Smith passed his condolences on to Mr Howsden’s family and Ms Henry, telling her a ‘double tragedy must have been very difficult’.