A HEROIN addict has been linked to a second drug-related death in Barrow after he sold a man methadone that killed him, an inquest heard.

Tim Wilkinson had struggled with substance abuse since the age of 17 after growing up in Kendal with his adoptive family.

He began using heroin in his 20s and then moved to Barrow with his future wife Maria, the coroner was told.

His problems worsened after the couple split up in 2014 and his life ‘spiralled out of control’, his sister Vanda Wilkinson told an inquest at Barrow Town Hall yesterday.

Mr Wilkinson was found dead by a friend on July 23 in 2017 aged 45 at his home in James Street where he had lived with his mum who died three months earlier.

“His soul was golden but he just had too many demons,” ex-wife Maria Wilkinson said.

“He spent his last Christmas Day at my house with the kids; he loved his children.”

Mr Wilkinson, whose birth name was Kevin Rowley, had bought a 71-milligram bottle of methadone from Craig Holman the day before he died.

Coroner Dr Nicholas Shaw said Mr Wilkinson had likely taken his own 52mg dose on Saturday morning followed by his Sunday dose of 52mg along with the bottle Holman had sold him.

A post mortem found his body had ‘potentially lethal’ levels of the heroin substitute and the cause of death was given as the combined toxicity of methadone and diazepam.

His lungs revealed he had ‘very severe emphysema’ which is where large spaces develop when the walls of the air sacs rupture. One hole was 8cm, the inquest was told.

Mr Wilkinson’s family were critical of staff at drug recovery service Unity who reduced his methadone dose in a bid to make him attend appointments.

The family said his agoraphobia, anxiety and lung disease meant he struggled to attend appointments. They also criticised communication between health services.

“Tim wasn’t given a glimmer of hope, he thought he wouldn’t see his children again, he had just lost his mum, how can he be expected to go to appointments?” his sister asked.

“It wasn’t a ploy. To restrict his medication was just cruel.

“Unity have let Tim down but I’m not just talking about Tim. COPD is a big killer in drug users; this could be anyone’s son or daughter next.”

Unity’s service manager Stacy Maitland ‘acknowledged’ the family’s concerns but said: “He was accessing the chemist daily (for his methadone) so he could have come into the centre.”

Dr Shaw concluded Mr Wilkinson’s death was drug-related.

Craig Holman was jailed for three years and four months in January after pleading guilty to supplying his own prescription of methadone.

He was also linked to the death of Kieron Daly who died in December 2017.

Holman and another man were criticised by a coroner and Mr Daly’s family after paramedics found them sat watching TV while Mr Daly was lying dead next to them.