Homeless man found dead in Eastbourne flat

Ian Jardine, who was described as a massive sports fan by his family, had run into a friend who invited him back to his flat at Kildare Court in Barcombe Close for a shower.

Mr Jardine’s friends Peter and Mark Pollard said they spoke to him while he was sitting on the sofa in the flat and noticed he was unresponsive.

The brothers called the emergency services.

The 42-year-old died at the flat and a post mortem showed he was four and a half times the legal drink drive limit and there were drugs in his system.

Mr Jardine, whose last job was as a factory worker, had long suffered with mental health issues as well as substance abuse before his death, the inquest heard.

His mother Christine Jardine said when her son wasn’t drinking he was a great son and great dad to his two children.

She said in his younger years he had been approached by Jimmy White to fine tune his snooker skills as he was such a good player.

East Sussex coroner James Healy-Pratt said, “This young man certainly had a dependency on multiple substances along with mental health challenges. The drugs he had taken reacted with fatal consequences.”

The coroner heard that Mr Jardine, who had spent time in prison, exhibited complications related to alcohol abuse and that his death was a result of drug and ethanol toxicity.

Mr Healy-Pratt ruled that the death was drink and drug related.

The inquest was help at Eastbourne Town Hall on Thursday (January 21).