PRESS ASSOCIATION -- A man died inhaling lighter fluid while having sex with his girlfriend, an inquest has been told.

James Campbell, 29, had been addicted to butane gas - using up to eight containers a day, Belfast coroner Joanne Donelly heard.

He was in bed with his partner at his home in Bangor, Co Down, when he lost consciousness.

The former catering assistant, who was addicted from age 14, had been discharged from treatment a year before his death after failing to attend appointments. The coroner said nothing more could have been done by the addiction services.

His partner told the Belfast inquest: "He slumped down on top of me. I could not move, I noticed that his face was going purple and he struggled to breathe. I told him to get off me but he did not respond. I dragged him off the bed, his head banged on the ground when he came off the bed."

She phoned his mother Ellen Campbell in panic, then called an ambulance.

A report by pathologist Dr Roy Lyness said sudden death can happen when people use butane because of lack of oxygen or disturbance of the heart rhythm.

"There can be little doubt that it was the effects of the inhalation of these substances that was responsible for his death," he said.

Butane produces a euphoric feeling when inhaled, the pathologist added.

Mr Campbell, from Rathgill Crescent, died on September 29 last year. The coroner found that he died from butane inhalation after deliberately inhaling it for its euphoric effects.