A High Wycombe man was found dead on his birthday by his cousin who had dropped by his home to see him, an inquest heard this week.

Roger O’Reilly was found unresponsive on his sofa at his home in Tilling Crescent by his cousin Michael McGrath on his 54th birthday on August 5.

Mr O’Reilly, who was unemployed at the time of his death, suffered with drug and alcohol problems after “getting in with the wrong crowd” when he left school.

Mr McGrath said his cousin “looked like something out of the Walking Dead” in the months before his death.

At an inquest into his death at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court, he said: “We lived two doors down from each other in our youth. Roger started socialising with the wrong crowd after school.

“He went to India to experiment but he had started getting worse, his health had deteriorated. He looked like he had stepped off the set of the Walking Dead.”

Describing how his discovered his cousin had passed away, he told the inquest how he had gone to Mr O’Reilly’s house and knocked several times but there was no answer.

He then saw through the window that Mr O’Reilly was on the sofa – and thought he was asleep.

He said: “I shouted but he didn’t respond. I threw a stick at Roger through the window and it hit him but he didn’t flinch. I tried the door again and it was open. I went in and put my hand on his neck. My worst fears were confirmed.”

He then went outside and asked a neighbour, who was outside, to call 999.

Mr O’Reilly had been involved with One Recovery Bucks, which helps adults with substance abuse, and he was unwell when he was last seen by them on July 31.

Mark Prescott, from the service, said he did not turn up for an appointment on July 30, but attended the next day to pick up a script.

In a statement read out at the inquest, Mr Prescott said Mr O’Reilly looked unwell and was jaundiced.

A post-mortem examination found that Mr O’Reilly had moderate levels of alcohol in his system but “significant” levels of methadone, a synthetic opiate used as an alternative to heroin, which was “several times” over the fatal limit.

His cause of death was recorded as cardio-respiratory arrest as a result of methadone toxicity. He was also suffering with chronic alcohol and hepatitis C-related liver disease.

Crispin Butler, senior coroner for Bucks, said Mr O’Reilly “looked to be a very poorly man” in the days before his death.

Ruling his death as drug or alcohol related, he said: “He was found dead on his birthday on the sofa at home having died from the toxic effects of methadone in the context of recent alcohol consumption and long-term drug and alcohol issues.”