An online businessman and father died after taking cocaine he might have been using to manage health problems, an inquest has heard.

David Dawson was found dead at his home in School Lane, Iwade, at about 4.30pm on Sunday, February 10 after he failed to turn up to a party. He was just 38.

When he did not arrive, a friend, Det Sgt Andy Jennings, who works for the Metropolitan Police, went to check on him and found him unresponsive on the floor.

He told an inquest at Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone last Wednesday he knew of Mr Dawson as a “party man” and that, when he was younger, he had used recreational drugs.

“Over the last year or two, his alcohol use had seemed to become worse and I started to suspect drug use,” he added.

“He struggled with health problems and would use alcohol and prescription drugs to get to sleep.”

Mr Jennings explained he had known Mr Dawson since about 2011 and was the godfather to his children.

“He was one of the nicest people I know – he loved his wife and children,” he said.

Two police officers who went to his home after he was found said there were several empty bottles of whiskey.

“When I went to see him in January he was fantastic, back to his normal self so I can’t understand how he got to here..." Katrina Dawson

One bottle in his bedroom had been freshly opened but there was no evidence of drugs in the house.

Pathologist and toxicologist reports found Mr Dawson had overdosed on cocaine.

Levels of alcohol in his body were below the legal drink-drive limit.

Mr Dawson, who was born in Leicester, had separated from his wife in November last year, the hearing was told.

His sister, Katrina Dawson, was battling to come to terms with the loss.

She said: “When I went to see him in January he was fantastic, back to his normal self so I can’t understand how he got to here. I’m struggling to get my head around it.”

Area coroner Bina Patel concluded Mr Dawson’s death was drug-related.

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