An airline steward who suffered from alcoholism and depression died of a drug overdose, an inquest heard.

Benjamin Allen, 24, of St Mary’s Road, Watford, died due to an overdose of morphine on October 6 last year.

An inquest into Mr Allen’s death held today at Hertfordshire Coroner’s Court heard he had a history of mental health problems including depression, bulimia and alcoholism.

He was admitted to Watford General Hospital three times in the space of four months with alcohol issues.

In October he went to visit his friend Stacey Lassell, who he met during his time at hospital, at Cecil Rosen Court, Bushey Heath – a sheltered accommodation for people with disabilities.

A statement from Miss Lassell was read out during Mr Allen’s inquest at Hertfordshire’s Coroners Court today.

She said: “Ben wanted to come see me at home because he said he missed me as I had been in hospital for eight weeks.

“When he came over on October 5 he said he was hungry. His former partner did not let him eat that much.

“At around 7.30pm we ordered a Chinese takeaway with my neighbour. Ben then went to bed in my bedroom.”

After about an hour and a half he came back into the living room saying he was hungry again and got some ice cream.

Miss Lassell said he went back to bed at around 3.30am on October 7 and she fell back asleep around 7.30am. She woke up around 4pm and spoke to her mother on the phone.

She said: “I thought it was strange Ben was not awake by then. I went into the room and saw him lying on top of the bed.

“I pulled a cord in my room and one of the staff came to my room and called police.”

Police and paramedics turned up to the address at around 4pm and found Mr Allen on the bed.

Inside his pockets were morphine tablets and there were other drugs inside his bag.

The toxicologist's report revealed Mr Allen had a fatal amount of morphine in his bloodstream.

Detective Constable Vikki Murray said at the inquest there was nothing suspicious about Mr Allen’s death and there was no third party involvement.

Coroner Geoffrey Sullivan said: “Due to the evidence heard today, I will record Mr Allen’s death was drugs related.”