A recovering addict was dragged out to the side of the road by friends after he died following a drugs binge, an inquest has heard.

Kevin Sampson, 44, was found dead in Victoria Road, Margate, by shocked passers-by.

Mr Sampson, a recovering heroin addict, had been at the Addington Road flat occupied by Justin Lovatt, 47, when he died.

He, Lovatt, and Lovatt's friend Christopher Handley had been taking drugs at the flat, when Mr Sampson slumped forward in his chair.

Believing him to be unconscious, Lovatt and Mr Handley left to get pizza at about 3.55pm.

But when they returned later, they found Mr Sampson was dead.

After attempting CPR, the duo waited until nightfall before dragging his body around the corner, about one minute away, for someone else to find.

A motorist spotted Mr Sampson's body at about 9.45pm and called paramedics - who pronounced him dead at the scene.

Lovatt initially denied any knowledge of the crime when interviewed by police.

But at a later date, while being interviewed under police caution for suspected manslaughter, both men confessed to moving Mr Sampson’s body.

During an inquest at Canterbury Coroners Court this afternoon, coroner Ian Goldup worked to establish the circumstances surrounding Mr Sampson's death.

His cause of death was given as mixed drug intoxication, with ischemic heart disease and left-sided rib fractures.

But pathologist Olaf Biedrycki was left stumped as to the cause of some of his fractures.

In a statement read by Mr Goldup, he said that while a number of his ribs were likely to have been fractured while CPR was administered after his death, several fractures to the rear of his body were sustained while he was still alive, "within two hours" before he died.

He said the injuries could have been caused by a "blunt force trauma assault by a third party before his death", or else by a fall.

He added: "The fractures are unlikely to have been caused by a single punch, but could have been caused by a kick or a weapon."

Mr Sampson lived with his mum Patricia Harris in Minster, Ramsgate, where he acted as her carer.

'I will never understand or forgive them for what they have done' - Patricia Harris

In a statement read before today's inquest, Ms Harris told how Kevin's father Frederick had died when Kevin was just four-and-a-half, and how he had struggled at school with reading and writing, before getting into hard drugs at the age of 17.

He was "in and out" of prison, and was married briefly in about 2000 before divorcing.

Mr Sampson had been admitted to hospital several times due to heroin overdoses, and had also received counselling after suffering from depression, and carried out an extended stint in rehab.

His mum described her son as "very kind and always very good to (her)", and said she did not believe he had taken heroin for some time before his death.

She told how she had started to panic after not hearing from Kevin, who usually returned home to cook for her every evening, for more than a day.

She called the police, but an officer later visited to inform her of her son's death.

"I found that whole thing unsettling and very difficult to hear," she said. "What I can't understand is that the people with him who left him alone to die, rather than getting help.

"They then decided to drag my son outside into the street.

"I will never understand or forgive them for what they have done. I feel that if they had called for an ambulance, he may still be with us.

"His death has left a huge hole in my life, in more ways than one."

The inquest heard how on the day of his death, Mr Sampson had travelled to Margate where he picked up groceries for his mum.

He then met for a catch-up with close friend David East-Jackson, who described Mr Sampson as "a brother", before walking with Lovatt and Mr Handley to buy drugs in Cliftonville.

Mr Sampson is believed to have taken a mixture of cocaine and heroin - known as a "snowball" - at Lovatt's flat before falling unconscious.

After Mr Sampson's death on February 1, Mr Lovatt hid his personal effects from police.

Mr Handley initially threw Mr Sampson's phone in a bush, but later retrieved it and pawned it for cash.

At a trial at Canterbury Crown Court in July, Judge Catherine Brown jailed Lovatt for nine months but suspended the term for 18 months,

She also placed him on a curfew.

During the case, it was revealed Lovatt, has 16 convictions for 29 offences largely linked to drugs.

It was also revealed that Mr Handley had since taken his own life.

Mr Goldup said that finding a conclusion was "extremely difficult" given the unknown cause of Mr Sampson's fractures.

"As to the cause of those injuries, and they're definitely connected to the cause of death, I can't find that they were accidental," he said.

"Because there seems to have been significant force applied, and we don't know the circumstances in which that force was applied.

"Therefore I think my conclusion has to be an open conclusion."

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