A “loving and kind-hearted” man who had spent years fighting drug addiction had struggled to find permanent accommodation before his death, an inquest has heard.

Jason Clifford, 43, was found unresponsive in his room of a halfway house on Guanock Terrace in Lynn on the morning of January 10.

Ambulance and police were called to the scene, and Mr Clifford was pronounced dead at 9.45am.

His mother has since raised concerns about how her son was treated by West Norfolk Council’s housing department, as well as the charity Change, Grow, Live (CGL), which Mr Clifford was seeing for his drug addiction.

However, both gave explanations of how they tried to help Mr Clifford over the past five years, but he had failed to engage with them.

An inquest into Mr Clifford’s death was held at Norfolk Coroners’ Court in Norwich today, where area coroner Christopher Leech determined that he had died a drug-related death.

In a statement read out in court, Mr Clifford’s mother described her son as a “loving and kind-hearted person” who tried to help others.

Once a pupil at Methwold Primary School, Mr Clifford had lost his father at the age of ten, which had a “profound impact” on him.

He followed in his father’s footsteps and became a digger driver, but began to struggle with drug addiction at the age of 20.

“We tried everything we could to help him,” his mother’s statement said.

“We tried to help him with housing. He had no place to live until it was too late.

“Our whole family is devastated. His friends who are still here are still upset.”

A statement from Mr Clifford’s GP reported that he had been reliant on heroin for some time and was known to take crack cocaine.

He had struggled to find permanent housing in Lynn since 2020, and had been staying at Lynn’s Night Shelter, hotels and HMOs (houses of multiple occupation).

Mr Clifford had also been seeking support from CGL since 2020, but failed to show up to appointments.

However, he often visited the centre to take part in its needle programme, to ensure that he was using a clean syringe to inject drugs, to protect from injuries, infections and blood-borne viruses.

The court heard that Mr Clifford was found unresponsive on several occasions and taken to the hospital with suspected drug overdoses.

Mr Clifford’s cause of death was determined as being from bronchopneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, thought to be caused by drug abuse.

Multiple drugs were found in Mr Clifford’s system, with it being believed that a mixture of substances, including methadone, diazepam, cocaine and pregabalin, caused his death.

The court heard that Mr Clifford had purchased drugs online from India.

Mr Leech said: “It is particularly tragic when a parent loses their child. The last year of his life was chaotic, and he had a history of drug and alcohol abuse.

“There has been illicit heroin use. With other drugs, these may have resulted in Jason suffering from excess sedation.”

Mr Leech offered his condolences to Mr Clifford’s family.