A "caring dad" and "lovely guy" whose life went downhill due to heroin died after taking a lethal cocktail of drugs.
Joseph William Dale had fallen into homelessness after a short stint prison a month before he was found dead, on April 30 2019.
At an inquest held on Monday, Newcastle Coroner Karen Dilks concluded his death, at the age of 47, had been related to the consumption of a combination of drugs, including heroin.
Speaking to ChronicleLive shortly after his death, Joseph's daughter Sarah spoke of how her "caring" dad's "normal happy life" had spiralled downwards when he became hooked on the heroin that would eventually kill him.
Visiting his daughter and grandson, also called Joseph, for a Sunday dinner just days before his death, he had appeared injured, having been hurt on the streets, but had told her he wanted to turn his life around.
But just days later, Sarah was devastated to learn he had died.
She said: "He was left on the streets to die like thousands of others. He had been sleeping rough.
"It was just horrendous to see him like that. We knew it was going to happen."
Newcastle coroner Karen Dilks said: "Joseph William Dale had a history of illicit drug use".
She said that on or around the night of April 30, 2019, Joseph had consumed a mixture of heroin, methadone, MDMA and mirtazapine.
The lethal combination had, she said, led to his death, which took place at the back of Central Loft apartments on Waterloo Road, in Newcastle city centre.
Joseph had been sleeping in an underpass close to the apartment block for around two weeks before he died.
The down-on-his-luck dad had befriended some of the residents of the plush flats, becoming pals with Elone Herelnovich, who would bring him a hot drink and a sandwich, and chat about his life.
Speaking to ChronicleLive in May last year, Elone said: "He was a lovely guy, he was just struggling with his addiction.
" I got on really well with him."
