The deaths of two Keighley heroin users should serve as a warning about the dangers of drugs, a coroner has said.

There is no way that anyone taking heroin or buying it on a street corner can know the strength of what they are buying, said Bradford coroner Roger Whittaker.

Karl Griffin, 19, of Drill Street, and Michael Clarke, 30, of Edensor Road, died from separate drug overdoses earlier this year within days of each other.

Recording a verdict of death due to non-dependent abuse of drugs on Mr Griffin, the coroner said: "The general feeling is that 'it can't happen to me'. But it can - and does - happen.

"The dangers are there, as plain as a pikestaff, for all to see. I hope that, particularly in Keighley, the message may go home that young men who play with drugs are risking their lives. I hope they will desist from this dreadful practice."

Det Con Neil Davies, of Keighley CID, told the inquest that after Mr Griffin's death he interviewed his friend Paul Richardson. Mr Richardson said Mr Griffin and himself were not addicts but would use heroin from time to time.

On the day Mr Richardson's friend died they had gone to the Braithwaite area to buy some heroin. He stood near a telephone box while Mr Griffin went to buy £10-worth of the drug. They then went to Mr Griffin's house in Fair Isle Court, where they injected themselves.

Mr Richardson said shortly afterwards, as he was leaving to go shopping, he noticed that Mr Griffin was 'playing about' and acting as though he had overdosed. But Mr Richardson did not believe he had overdosed.

When he returned 15 minutes later he found Mr Griffin lifeless on the floor.

PC Mehrban Hussain said he was on duty at Keighley police station that afternoon when Mr Richardson came in, crying and shouting 'My friend is dead'.

A verdict of dependent abuse of drugs was recorded at the inquest on Mr Clarke, who died eight days before Mr Griffin. He was found slumped in the bathroom of his home by his brother and two friends. A bag of syringes and needles was on the floor in front of him.

The coroner said: "It's a matter of concern to me that in just over a week these deaths in Keighley were reported to me."

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