A MARLOW man injected himself with more than double the usually lethal amount of heroin, an inquest heard.

Stephen Herbert John Morley, 43, had been out with friends and returned to a house in Roberts Road, High Wycombe, where he took the fatal hit, on June 29.

PC Sharon Ban, based at High Wycombe police station, was called to the house just after midnight.

She said: "I entered the room. There were five other males inside.

"I saw Stephen Morley lying on his back on the floor.

"PC Christopher Pommery removed a large amount of cash, totalling £1120.50 from his pocket."

The reason why he had the cash on him was not discovered.

PC Ban explained that one of Mr Morley's friends admitted they had been using drugs that night.

She added that the man cried as he explained what happened.

Mr Morley, unemployed, who lived with his sister Marina Farrell in Shelley Road, Marlow, had a level of 280 microgrammes of free morphine, the-by product of heroin, in his blood.

The normal level of free morphine which would cause death is 120 microgrammes.

Amersham Coroners' Court heard on Wednesday, December 7th that the overdose caused his heart and lungs to give out moments after the injection.

His post-mortem also showed he had 166 microgrammes of alcohol in his blood double the drink driving limit.

Richard Hulett, coroner for Buckinghamshire, said his death was unintended and that he was not known to be a drug user.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.