A TEENAGER died after a night drinking and partying with friends, an inquest heard yesterday.

William Raine, 18, from Hartlepool, went with James Lee to buy a box of white wine before going to a friend's house on the night of March 16 this year.

They stayed there until about 9pm before walking to the Throston area of the town to meet some former schoolfriends. They returned home at about midnight and went to bed.

In a statement read to Hartlepool Coroner's Court Mr Lee said: "I woke up at around 8am with a bad headache. I got up and William was in his front room. He was breathing quite heavily and I did not speak to him as I did not want to wake him up.

"I went back to bed and woke up again at 11am and William was in the front room. I could not remember him breathing, I could not see his face and just thought he was still asleep.

"I asked him if he wanted a cup of tea and did not get a reply. Things went on fairly normally until about 4pm when a friend came around. I spoke to him for a few minutes and then went to see if William was going to get up but he did not respond."

Mr Lee then discovered his friend was dead.

The court heard that Mr Raine, who did not drink often, had a high level of alcohol in his blood. The cause of death was given as suffocation as a result of ethyl alcohol intoxication.

Coroner Malcolm Donnelly said: "William will not have known anything about it. As far as he was concerned he had had a very good night out with his friends."

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.