A “much loved” 23-year-old Thaxted man was planning a camping trip to the Lake District before he died suddenly last year, an inquest heard.

Joseph Edward Hockley was found unresponsive in his bed at home on November 1 by family members.

Emergency services were called but Mr Hockley was pronounced dead at the scene.

A pathologist who performed a post-mortem gave Mr Hockley's cause of death as respiratory depression and heroin toxicity.

Mr Hockley's mother, Jean, told the inquest, held on Tuesday (July 23) that she did not believe her son had intended to take his own life, telling the hearing he had been "much" happier in the months leading up to his death, than he had in the previous three years.

She also praised emergency services, saying: "If there was anything that could have been done to save Joe, it would have happened. They all behaved very respectfully."

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray ruled that Mr Hockley's death was accidental.