A YOUNG man died because of the “sedative effect” of drugs he had taken at a party.

A coroner said Luke Blackhurst vomited in his sleep but did not wake up .

She said it was “incredibly bad luck”.

Luke, 24 was found dead at his home in Sillwood Street, Brighton, on the morning of Tuesday, January 22, last year.

Luke, who had been diagnosed with high-functioning autism and ADHD as a child, was a resident at Fred Emery Court supported housing accommodation, which is managed by the YMCA.

At an inquest into his death at Brighton Coroner’s Court, coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley ruled Luke had died due to a bilateral pneumonia, which had developed after he vomited in an unconscious state.

Coroner’s officer Claire Rogers said: “Luke’s mum Rebecca had contacted Fred Emery Court on Monday, January 21, as she had not heard from him in a few days.

“Night staff knocked on his door that evening but got no reply, and it was agreed they would check on him the following morning, which is when he was found dead. There was evidence that Luke had vomited, while sitting up on his sofa.”

Luke had been at a party all night on the Friday and CCTV showed he had not returned home until 3.20am on the Sunday.

Analysis from a toxicology report found he had low levels of various drugs in his blood, including morphine and ketamine.

Ms Hamilton-Deeley said it was not the drugs which had killed him directly, but their sedative effect.

She said: “What has happened here is incredibly bad luck. Luke had gone to sleep, and in that position he vomited. He has not been able to protect himself from aspiration of his gastric contents, and he has developed a pneumonia.

“He has not woken up at all and some hours later the pneumonia has killed him by suppressing his respiratory system.”

Some noodles were found on Luke’s sofa and Ms Hamilton-Deeley said he may have vomited after eating these or because he had missed out on a lot of sleep.

Staff at Fred Emery Court had met Luke in the weeks before his death after he and two friends had caused noise disturbances in the housing project, which Luke had attributed to alcohol. Lewis Edwards, who was the manager at the time, said he had raised concerns with Luke about him looking after himself.

Ms Hamilton-Deeley said: “Fred Emery Court acted entirely within their obligations for Luke and I really do not know what else they were expected to do. He was living in low support accommodation.”

The coroner recorded a conclusion of misadventure, and said Luke’s death was drug-related.

She added: “Losing someone like Luke is something no one who knew him will ever recover from, but I hope there is some comfort in the fact that he was asleep in the last hours of his life.”