An inquest was held into the "sad and tragic loss" of a young Carlisle man.

Kieran Stuart Pearce Kirkwood, 21, was found deceased at his Farlam Drive home on December 1, 2021.

An inquest was held into his death in Cockermouth on Thursday. Area coroner Kirsty Gomersal heard that Mr Kirkwood lived with his mother, Christine, and had autism and anxiety. He also experienced physical pain.

In a statement, Mrs Kirkwood said her son was diagnosed with autism at 13 and on medication for anxiety.

He went to Carlisle College but after leaving "due to severe autism he was unable to get jobs and spent most of the time in his room," she said.

"He was regularly up all night playing on his Xbox and slept during the day.

"He rarely left the house. We all accepted that is what Kieran is like, he was happy with his life."

His family had last seen him on November 28, when he had fallen in the bathroom and injured his knee.

Three days later Mrs Kirkwood found her son unresponsive in his bedroom. Emergency services were called and he was pronounced deceased.

Police found a number of substances in Mr Kirkwood's bedroom, including cocaine and illicit prescription medication.

A toxicology report showed alcohol, a significant amount of illicit prescribed medication and cocaine. Death was due to their combined sedative effect, heard the inquest.

The medical cause of death was given as "drug intoxication".

Ms Gomersal said: "I have heard Kieran had been diagnosed with autism of a severe nature and due to this he spent most of his time in his room playing on his Xbox. He kept himself to himself but was happy with his life.

"He was prescribed drugs for anxiety and also had physical medical problems."

She noted that his mother "was not aware of him being in a dark place or having mental health problems" and that "none of these substances were prescribed to Kieran at the time of his death".

She concluded that his death was "drug related".

"There's no evidence that Kieran intended to harm himself when he took the drugs he did," she said.

Ms Gomersal passed on her condolences to Mr Kirkwood's parents for their "sad and tragic loss".

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