The mother of a Bradford man who died aged only 23 after being found collapsed in the street has talked about the heartache of losing her only son.

Doreen Ellis, of Wyke, said her pain was deepened because she does not know the circumstances surrounding his death, which is believed to be from a drugs overdose.

Allan Charles Daniel Grimshaw's body was found in Common Road, Low Moor, on Wednesday.

He died in an ambulance on the way to Bradford Royal Infirmary of a suspected heroin overdose.

"It's a cruel way for him to end up, just lying on the street all by himself," said Miss Ellis, 62.

Miss Ellis believes someone must have been with him before he collapsed and said the family was finding it very difficult to come to terms with his death.

"It's such a tragic loss of a young life," she said.

Miss Ellis remembers the day Allan was born at the Bradford Royal Infirmary in 1982 vividly.

Doctors feared he would not survive as he weighed only 2lbs.

"He was due on December 26 but was born on October 28," said Miss Ellis, a great-grandmother of three. "We weren't sure he would live but he was a little fighter and he pulled through."

He went to school at Wyke Manor, where loved to play rugby, and he got to brown belt in karate at a local club.

"He was a very loyal person and very kind and sensitive," said Miss Ellis.

After leaving school he had various jobs and his mum said his future looked promising.

"He was a bit of a tearaway, a real free spirit but his heart was in the right place," said Miss Ellis."

But she said at 17 Allan fell in with the wrong crowd.

"He started smoking cannabis and then progressed to experiment with other drugs," remembers his sister Tracey Wood, 41.

"That's when he changed completely. He was a different person."

From then on Allan was in and out of prison.

"He tried to stop taking drugs a few times but never managed it," she said.

Miss Ellis said Allan finally managed to get off drugs in July and was determined he was going to stay clean. He managed for six months.

But Miss Ellis said it was just after Christmas when her son started to lose his way again.

In his final weeks, Allan had become very depressed and unable to find help, he said.

Allan's sisters Tracey, Helen Goodwin, 38, and Sophie Grimshaw, 20, and his brother-in-law Trevor Wood, said they would like to see more support available to help people get off drugs.

"We don't want to see young people die like our brother did," said Mrs Wood.

"More should be done to help people battle their addictions."

An inquest into Allan's death will be held by at Bradford Coroner's Court.