A 41-year-old man died of a flesh-eating bug after long term drug use, a court was told.

An inquest into the death of David Kingshott heard he died in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in King's Lynn, on November 28.

Mr Kingshott's aunt, Katrina Juby, told senior coroner Jacqueline Lake that he lived with his partner in North Everard Street.

She added: 'I knew that David took drugs, namely heroin, but I don't know how much he took.'

She said she also knew Mr Kingshott was a drinker and that three weeks before his death he had been beaten up in his home and suffered a head and groin injury.

In a statement Det Con Darren Giggins said the assault was still being investigated.

Consultant surgeon Rudolph Zack said Mr Kingshott had been admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on November 2.

He said he was suffering a groin injury, signs of sepsis and kidney injury. He said he was 'clinically unstable and very unwell'. Mr Kingshott, who also had a history of drug use, excessive alcohol consumption, hepatitis C and epilepsy, was given intravenous antibiotics.

Doctors operated after they found he also had the necrotising fasciitis bug, removing tissue from his groin area to prevent it from spreading.

He had a number off further operations before being transferred to the James Paget University Hospital, in Gorleston, for hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat his fasciitis.

On November 21, he was returned to the QEH, where he required multiple organ support and died on November 28.

Summing up, Mrs Lake said Mr Kingshott had 'a long history' of drug use and was being supported by the Drug and Alcohol Service and prescribed methadone.

She said he had 'extensive necrotic tissue' when transferred to the James Paget Hospital and after being returned to the QEH his condition continued to deteriorate.

Mrs Lake said no clinical injuries were found which might cause his death to be linked with the assault.

She concluded that the cause of death was necrotising fasciitis due to long-term intravenous drug use.