A SOUTHAMPTON man died after taking drugs, which his friend then tried to cover up, an inquest heard.

Agris Amjuts, aged 21, was staying at his friend’s house in Denzil Avenue on August 31, when he was discovered.

An inquest into his death at Winchester Coroner’s Court was told that Mr Amjuts came to the UK in April or May 2019.

He would stay at the house when he was not working, and on the day before he died his friends decided to have a barbecue, but Mr Amjuts went to bed early.

His friend Maskims Adahovskis said that he went into the room that he shared with Mr Amjuts on two occasions during the night and he was asleep.

In a statement Mr Adahovskis said that he woke up at around 6am and noticed that Mr Amjuts was unresponsive, adding: “Agris was cold to the touch and wasn’t moving at all.”

The ambulance service were called who pronounced Mr Amjuts dead at the scene and it was decided that the police should be called.

PC Dan Channer said: “We searched the room, there was nothing of significant concern that came out of that."

He continued: “Maskims was particularly withdrawn, it was difficult to ask him questions and get him to respond immediately.”

Officers believed that there were suspicious circumstances and arrested Mr Adahovskis.

“He had taken [drugs] from the side of Mr Amjuts, left the building, walked five or six premises down by the road. Just with luck the council had emptied the bin within that hour,” PC Channer added.

“He just panicked, wasn’t thinking clearly. He was very worried that Mr Amjuts family would find out about the drug use and it would be an embarrassment and shame to them.”

Mr Adahovskis said that what he had chucked away was a "packet of white powder" and toxicology reports on Mr Amjuts found morphine in his blood, which was deemed to be from heroine.

Acting area coroner Samantha Marsh concluded that Mr Amjuts died of a drug-related death.

No charges were brought against Mr Adahovskis as it was felt he had helped officers with their investigation.