THE coroner for Worcestershire spoke of his increasing concern about the number of heroin and alcohol-related deaths in the county at a Redditch man's inquest.

Victor Round made the comments during last Tuesday's the inquest of Ivan Givans, also known as Shane Paul Givans, who was found dead at his home in Cedar View, Batchley, on May 13.

Mr Round said: "Heroin and alcohol are a horrifying mix. The number of times I have had to read the names of these two drugs when explaining the death of someone in this county is frightening.

"People aren't listening to the warnings. I want them to understand what a terrifying combination this is, otherwise we'll continue losing lives."

A post mortem report stated 31-year-old Mr Givans was found with a fresh needle mark in his foot and a boot lace tied around his ankle. He had heroin and alcohol in his system.

According to his mother, Ann Givans, her son had only been taking the drug for 14 months and had been encouraged to do so by his sister Leila Williams, who hung herself last November after a battle against drugs.

The mother also said her son was terrified of needles and wouldn't have been able to inject himself.

She believes another man, who was in the house with her son when his body was found, should have been questioned further by police.

Mr Round said he was satisfied Mr Givans had died as a result of "non-dependant misuse of drugs".He added there were not huge amounts of either heroin or alcohol found in Mr Givans' system.

However, the case was adjourned after family members said they would like to hear from Mr Givans' ex-girlfriend, Sarah Wood, one of the first to discover his body and call the police.

The National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths reported that heroin on its own or in combination with other substances was responsible for 56 per cent of drug-related deaths in Worcestershire in 2004 and 83 per cent in 2005.

Nationally, heroin was implicated in just under half of drug-related in deaths in both years.