THERE is not enough evidence to determine whether or not a homeless man intentionally took the heroin which killed him, an inquest heard on Monday.

An inquest into David ‘Gypsy’ McCauley’s death was adjourned in July 2016 after his friends told Teesside Coroner’s Court they did not believe he willingly injected himself with the Class A substance.

Mr McCauley was found dead at an address on Southfield Road in Middlesbrough on June 10 that year, having suffered a fatal reaction to heroin.

A man and a woman were with him at the time and said Mr McCauley had bought the drugs, which were shared between the trio.

The pair, who were arrested in the wake of the 60-year-old’s death and later released, tried to save him with an epi-pen after he became unresponsive but without success.

Police were asked to re-open their investigation after Danielle Castleton, a woman who befriended Mr McCauley and later organised his funeral, said her friend would never have taken heroin voluntarily and, being blind in one eye, would have struggled to inject himself.

A resumed inquest, held at Teesside Coroner’s Court on Monday, heard that several other associates of Mr McCauley’s also told police that, although he took amphetamines and drank heavily, he had not been a heroin user.

A detailed report presented by DI Matt Hollingsworth took into consideration evidence from a forensic pathologist and concluded that there was not enough evidence to take criminal action against anyone in relation to Mr McCauley’s death.

Coroner Clare Bailey thanked the police for conducting a thorough investigation and said there were many uncertainties surrounding the circumstances of Mr McCauley’s death.

She said: “It is not possible to determine whether or not he injected himself or was injected by a third party.

“We have heard of both possibilities but unfortunately, the reliability of the evidence is in question.”

Ms Bailey concluded that Mr McCauley had died as a result of the alcohol and morphine in his system, while the inquest also heard a post-mortem had uncovered evidence of underlying heart problems.