A YOUNG man who had confided in his father that he was getting too involved in the drugs scene was found dead after a heroin overdose.

Marc Kimber, 25, had probably injected himself with the fatal overdose only two hours before his death, an inquest heard at Warrington last week.

A misadventure verdict was recorded on Marc, a mechanical technician, of Bayvil Close, Murdishaw, Runcorn.

His father, Kenneth Kimber, of Ashlands, Frodsham, told the inquest he had been aware his son was involved in the drugs scene but did not realise he was injecting himself.

Marc had told him he was becoming more involved in drugs than he wished to be but he had thought he was probably just smoking drugs or using softer drugs.

But the inquest heard tests showed Marc had 800mg of morphine in his blood.

Anything above 120mg indicated a recent heroin injection - probably within two hours of death or possibly within 30 minutes.

Det Sgt Guy Hindle said he went to Marc's home and found him lying in the lounge. There was a large quantity of drugs paraphanalia in the house, including syringes, needles and tinfoil.

He spoke to Tim Pearce, the only other person present, who told him Marc had offered him a heroin injection the previous evening which he has accepted.

Mr Pearce said he had only recently gone to stay at Marc's home and had only then become aware of the extent of his drug habit. They did not usually take drugs together and he had never seen him inject himself previously.

Coroner John Hibbert said Marc was clearly addicted to the drug but had perhaps not appreciated his own tolerance to it. He had apparently done his best to shield the rest of his family from his drug activities, he said.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.