A Spanish man accused of feeding his drug habit by stealing medicines from an Oxford hospital pharmacy was found dead the day he was due in court, an inquest in Oxford heard yesterday.

Marco Aizpuru, 33, had been employed by the Radcliffe Infirmary as a cleaner and lived in a room on the Woodstock Road site.

Days before his body was found slumped between his bed and a table, he had resigned rather than face a disciplinary hearing into allegations about a large amount of drugs found in his room which had been stolen from the on-site pharmacy.

The inquest heard Mr Aizpuru had been due in court on December 1, after the hospital had informed police, but he was found dead by his employer, Stephen Chamberlain.

In a written statement, Mr Aizpuru's GP, Dr Mark Huckstep, said he had seen his patient two months before his death about problems associated with heroin and methadone misuse.

Mr Aizpuru had seemed depressed and had been prescribed the anti-depressant Prozac.

Consultant pathologist Dr Winifred Gray, of the John Radcliffe Hospital, said the cause of death was pneumonia, with his body's slow reflex reaction to inhaling vomit a contributory factor.

She added heroin had been found in Mr Aizpuru's blood, but at 50mg per litre -- below the fatal dose of 120mg.

Radcliffe Infirmary facilities manager Wendy Robinson said: "It transpired Mr Aizpuru had been helping himself from the pharmacy.

"He admitted doing it to continue a (drug) habit he started in Spain."

She said Mr Aizpuru had been agitated about his pending court case, but had calmed down after a meeting with police officers.

Recording an open verdict, coroner Nicholas Gardiner said Mr Aizpuru had been a troubled man who may have taken the heroin as dutch courage.