A RETIRED police officer's son took a deadly cocktail of drink and drugs after spurning his parents' help, a Harrogate inquest was told yesterday.

Coroner Geoff Fell recorded a verdict of death from alcohol and drugs abuse after hearing how Paul Hubbocks, 40, of Ashgarth Court, Harrogate, had drunk strong lager and taken heroin and diazepam.

Mr Hubbocks was found slumped in public toilets at the town's Library Gardens on March 25. He died in Harrogate District Hospital the following day without regaining consciousness.

Mr Fell said Mr Hubbocks - son of former police sergeant William Hubbocks and his wife Rita - had spent part of the last weeks of his life in accommodation provided by the Harrogate Homeless Project.

It appeared he had been trying to get his life into some sort of order, getting help from his GP and the Harrogate Alcohol and Drugs Agency.

But he had walked out of the shelter group and had told his mother, who had several times offered to help, that she would "not understand".