A convicted drug dealer has collapsed and died in his prison cell, despite frantic efforts by a fellow inmate to save him.

Mark Appleyard, 37, of Canterbury, Bradford, who was serving a 12-year jail sentence for conspiracy to supply drugs, is thought to have suffered a heart attack at Armley Jail, Leeds.

His cellmate alerted warders and put him in the recovery position and health care staff fought for ten minutes to revive him but he was pronounced dead by paramedics in the early hours of the morning.

Appleyard lived with his girlfriend, Tammy Rhodes, 28, and his six-year-old stepson Zach.

The couple had a daughter, Chloe, who died from a medical condition last May, aged only three months.

Leeds Coroner's Officer John Sparshatt said a jury inquest would be held next year into Appleyard's death because it had occurred in custody. Ian Blakeman, a spokesman for the governor at Leeds Prison, said: "It is a very young age to die of a heart attack. He was in his cell when he collapsed on the floor in a heap. The person who shared the cell pressed the alarm bell and attempted to put him in the recovery position.

"A member of staff arrived and as soon as it was realised that it was a medical emergency an ambulance was called. Prison health care staff carried out cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for ten minutes until the ambulance crew arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene by the paramedics."

Mr Blakeman described Appleyard as a "standard" prisoner who had not come to the notice of the authorities.

A prison representative was among 100 mourners at his funeral, which was held at Scholemoor crematorium. Prisoners at Armley collected nearly £400 to send flowers.

At his crown Court trial last year, Appleyard was said to be one of the leading players in a conspiracy to supply £1.4m of cocaine. He and three other men were jailed for a total of 35 years in October.

The court heard he rented a lock-up garage near Huddersfield where the drugs haul was stashed. Searches revealed 24 kilos of cocaine, two kilos of cannabis resin, ecstasy powder and amphetamines.

Judge James Barry told the conspirators: "Some self-centred people choose, for the sake of money and power, to operate a vile industry distributing these vile goods to the public with no concern for the enormous amount of harm they do."

Appleyard had pleaded not guilty to four charges of conspiracy to supply drugs but was convicted by the jury.

Canon Stephen Treasure, vicar of All Saints and St Oswald's Church in Little Horton, who conducted Appleyard's funeral service, said he had continued to maintain his innocence and had been hopeful of winning an application to the Court of Appeal.

But a spokesman for the Royal Courts of Justice said Appleyard's appeal against sentence had been rejected.

Canon Treasure said: "The last time I saw him he was very cheerful and optimistic about his appeal. He felt his sentence was unjust."

He said that a letter was discovered in Appleyard's cell after his death which he had written to his girlfriend, asking her to marry him after his release, but which he never had chance to send.

"I am sure she would have accepted," the vicar said.

"She was visiting him three times a fortnight and was prepared to wait for him. People had suggested she should give him up because he would be in prison for a number of years, but she had decided he was the man for her."

He said that after leaving school Appleyard, the youngest of five children, joined the Army and served with the 7th Armoured Brigade in Germany but had to leave on medical grounds.

He had also worked as a fork lift truck driver and drove a minibus for disabled children but lost that job because of his criminal record.