DRUG dealers in High Wycombe are rife a coroner has told the family of a man who killed himself after becoming addicted to crack cocaine.

Coroner Richard Hulett told relatives at the inquest of Jordan Pixley, 24, who hanged himself with bed sheets on January 3: "The root of this man's death is drugs.

"It would appear to me from what I've heard drug dealers in Wycombe are two-a-penny."

The heartbroken parents of Mr Pixley said they were disappointed to see the extent of drug use in High Wycombe'.

Paul Pixley, Jordan's father, said: "Known drug dealers seem able to operate with impunity and are reaping a rich harvest among the vulnerable and easily lead youngsters in the Wycombe District."

The body of Jordan Pixley, an electrician, was found at the family's home in Carrs Drive, High Wycombe, by his sister Rachael Pixley.

Craig Childress, 25, a member of the armed forces, told the court he used crack with Jordan the day before he died.

He said: "If anything he just seemed desperate for drugs. If I'd known he would commit suicide I wouldn't have left him.

"He was always a good friend to me even when we argued and I remember him as such."

Dr Laxmi Kankate, a consultant pathologist who performed a post mortem on Mr Pixley's body, told the court a small amount of alcohol, and the drugs cocaine and lidocaine were detected in blood samples.

She determined the cause of death to be asphyxia due to hanging.

Jordan had withdrawn £1,000 in eight days, usually in £20 multiples and had used the credit card of his mother Kim Pixley, the court heard.

Her husband Paul Pixley said he believed their son, who had lost his job in November, had previously tried to take his life after he found a garden hose in the car he had bought for him.

He said: "I think he was a person who was completely honest.

"Normally when people become addicts they steal, they lie, they cheat, that would have put further pressure on him. When he found the card and spent the money of his mother's that would have really damaged him.

"He said he always felt different. I think he felt great guilt and that he had let us down."

Mr Hulett recorded a verdict that Jordan Pixley had taken his own life.