A DRUG-using dad hanged himself at his mother’s Basingstoke home, an inquest heard.

The body of father-of-three Kevin Langthorne was found at a property in Montserrat Road, Popley, Basingstoke, on Sept-ember 19.

Kevin’s mother, Kathleen, told North East Hampshire coroner Andrew Bradley that she had been staying with her niece after her relationship with her son started to deteriorate when he kept asking her for money.

The 80-year-old told the inquest at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court that she called the police after she arrived at her home at around midday with her niece and was unable to unlock the front door.

A police officer climbed in through a window and found Mr Langthorne’s body.

The inquest heard how the 46-year-old had a history of drug abuse and had suffered a stroke in 2013.

A post-mortem found that Mr Langthorne had 79mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system, low levels of methadone, and recreational levels of cocaine as well as heroin in his system.

Mrs Langthorne told the inquest: “Yes, he did have a drug problem for many, many years, but he had been staying with me and kept it to himself.

“He had difficulty with contact with his children and that upset him. He had been getting a little bit on edge over the last couple of weeks (before he died).

“Everything had got on top of him and he knew we couldn’t go on the way we were.”

Recording a verdict of suicide, and describing Mr Langthorne’s behaviour as “self-destructive”, Mr Bradley told the family: “All I can say is how sorry I am.”

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