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A Chesterfield addict died taking a heroin and cocaine cocktail just five days after his release from prison, an investigation has revealed.

David Smith, 37, was found dead in his room at a hostel with the drugs paraphernalia nearby on January 22 last year.

The long-term heroin user had been released from HMP Ranby on January 17 following a 30-week jail term for obstructing a police officer.

A report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) described how, while in prison, Mr Smith told the probation service he had not used drugs for two years.

David Smith died five days after his release from HMP Ranby

Due to his failure to engage with the substance misuse team in prison he was released without a Naloxone kit – a medicine that can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

David had moved into a hostel two days before his death, on January 20, and the following day he was seen “coming in and out of the hostel throughout the day”, the report read.

According to a police report CCTV showed the former inmate returned to his room at 6.58pm on the evening of January 21 and did not leave again.

At around 9.15pm, during the evening checks, a member of hostel staff knocked on Mr Smith’s door but got no response.

When the hostel manager found David in his room at 2.14pm the next day he called for an ambulance. Paramedics arrived and pronounced Mr Smith dead at 2.28pm.

A post-mortem report concluded Mr Smith died of combined drug toxicity and confirmed he had used cocaine and heroin just before his death.

Following David Smith’s death The PPO report found that his community offender manager had referred him to the community substance misuse team in a timely manner

prior to his prison release.

Unfortunately, the former inmate died before having his initial assessment with the substance misuse team.

The report found that, although hostel staff failed to get a response from Mr Smith during the evening checks on January 21, this was unlikely to have affected the outcome.

Making no recommendations, the report read: “The actions of the hostel staff, which is run by a charitable organisation, are outside our remit.”

Chesterfield addict died of drugs cocktail in hostel five days after prison release, investigation reveals