A FATHER-OF-FOUR who was going through a separation from his wife, died of a drug overdose four days after Christmas, a coroner heard last week.

Colin Curzon, 36, who worked at Morrisons Manufacturing in Winsford, separated from his wife, Diane, in September last year and started a relationship with co-worker Katarzyna Shorthouse.

Diane told Warrington Coroner’s Court on Thursday last week, that Colin had called her saying that his relationship with Katarzyna had ended.

Diane said: “He said she’d finished with him and he had given up his family for nothing. I told him it was his own fault and he shouldn’t have left his kids.”

Colin was found dead in his flat in Brindley Avenue on December 29, 2016, Work colleague David Currie finished a night shift with Colin that morning and said the father-of-four was ‘upset’ because he had not seen his children over Christmas.

David said: “He was upset because he didn’t see his kids and because he had been separated from his wife. He was also having to stay in his flat that he had to move into and because of shift work he never saw the friend he was sharing with.”

Kataryna told coroner Michael Wallbank that she had become concerned when she had not heard from Colin after he had finished his shift at Morrisons Manufacturing that morning and got a friend to take her to his flat.

She banged on the door with no response until his flatmate Kevin Bye came and let her in and discovered Colin’s body.

He had taken prescription medication tramadol and gabapentin excessively.

Mr Wallbank concluded that there was insufficient evidence to say that Colin had intended to take his own life and gave the verdict of a drug-related death.

Mr Wallbank said: “Although Mr Curzon had outstanding issues, there is, in my view, no reason to say he deliberately harmed himself.

“It’s widely known that both drugs are often used habitually and have several side effects such as a feeling of euphoria.

“Having heard all the evidence, I’m satisfied that his death was drug related.”