A father-of-two with a 30year drug addiction believed a spy was trying to assassinate him.
Kenneth Paul Ditchfield, 52, of Harthill Road, Blacon, suffered psychotic episodes from drug withdrawal, plus epileptic fits.
He had lost contact with his family, not speaking to his mother for eight years, and lived alone. He began receiving treatment for his addiction but died from unknown causes.
His body was found more than two weeks later when neighbours raised the alarm.
Mother Pauline Williams said: “He had broken off all contact.
“He had two beautiful children but we never got to see them. Wherever he is now, he is better than where he was.”
Unemployed Mr Ditchfield was taking opiates to help him, including methadone, but substituted his own opiates before his death, recorded as May 3.
He was also admitted to the Bowmere Hospital and suffered psychotic episodes, but he was discharged in April 2006 and did not return to drug misuse.
That May, he was reviewed and was happy with his medication, but in October 2006 he began cutting himself, saying he was trying to kill himself.
He told doctors people were pushing petrol bombs through his letter box and mugging him. He also said he had held a knife to a neighbour’s throat in January 2007, although doctors were unsure if this was true.
In May, a policeman broke in to his house to find him dead on the kitchen floor. A toxicologist found traces of heroin in his body.
Deciding the cause of death could not be ascertained at an inquest on January 10, coroner Nicholas Rheinberg recorded an open verdict .
Mrs Williams added: “He was always so immaculate. He told my daughter he was going to die at 50. It’s a terrible waste.”
