A 44-YEAR-OLD man who was sleeping rough on the streets of Aberystwyth died after drinking vodka, an inquest has heard.

Stephen Russell Davies was found dead on the afternoon of Tuesday, 21 June, after spending the night at a friend’s house in Padarn Terrace, Llanbadarn Fawr.

Returning a verdict of death by misadventure, coroner Peter Brunton heard how Mr Davies, who had suffered with alcoholism for many years, was “smashed” when he met up with his friend, Peter Horner, on the evening of Monday, 20 June.

Mr Davies was taken to hospital in Tywyn after police officers found him sitting on a pharmacy doorstep in Tywyn on Monday afternoon, with what was described by officers as a “pleasant demeanour”, but clearly in a drunk state.

The inquest heard that after being transferred to Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, and later discharged, Mr Davies, who was known as ‘Stevo’ to his friends, met Mr Horner on the prom to watch the sunset as it was the summer solstice.

“Stevo was smashed; he was really, really drunk,” Mr Horner told the inquest.

After the pair returned to Mr Horner’s house in Llanbadarn, Mr Horner said he only had “one shot” from a bottle of vodka they had bought because he had his own drink at home.

“I think Stevo necked the rest of the bottle of vodka,” added Mr Horner. “Soon after, Stevo wanted to go to the toilet, and my friend Mike helped him because Stevo was incapable.”

After the pair’s friend Mike left at around 3am, both men went to sleep. But when Mr Horner tried to wake Mr Davies at “around 2pm” on Tuesday, 21 June, he realised he was dead.

The pathologist found traces of ketamine in Mr Davies’ blood, and the coroner concluded that he died from alcohol and ketamine toxicity, while suffering with alcoholism.