A PARAPLEGIC man who was viciously attacked as he lay in his bed took his own life just months after the brutal assault, an inquest has heard.

Andrew Durey suffered horrific injuries after he was set upon by a pair of drug addicts and another unknown man at his Bournemouth home in March last year.

An inquest into his death, held at Bournemouth Coroner’s Court on Friday, heard he overdosed on prescription medication seven months after his terrifying ordeal.

The court heard police and paramedics were called to Mr Durey's home on Parsonage Road after his girlfriend woke to find him unconscious on October 17.

Detective Inspector Andrew Roberts said she rushed to get help from their neighbour, ex-serviceman Thomas Burt, who desperately tried to resuscitate the 31-year-old.

The court heard Mr Durey, who was originally from Guernsey and moved to Bournemouth in 2012, sustained a brain injury during the attack, which resulted in him suffering severe headaches.

Mr Durey’s brother had committed suicide in 2009, which had had a "detrimental effect" on him, and he too had spoken of taking his own life, the hearing was told.

DI Andrews said Mr Durey had been depressed, was drinking heavily and taking class A drugs prior to his death.

The court heard Mr Durey, who had been left paralysed following a motorbike accident in 2002, had been prescribed Fentanyl patches, which are placed on the skin and provide slow-releasing pain relief over a three-day period.

Home office pathologist Dr Basil Purdue reported that Mr Durey had fatal levels of the drug in his system following his death, which would have resulted in respiratory failure.

A post-mortem revealed Mr Durey had swallowed the patches.

The court heard he also had benzodiazepines and traces of cocaine in his system.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Sheriff Payne, coroner for Dorset, said: “He was given two boxes of Fentanyl patches on the day before he was found. It would appear he probably consumed all of them.

“On the basis of these findings I can only conclude he did this deliberately knowing that this would end his life."

IN August last year Matthew Edwards and Leanne Mayers were each sentenced to 12 years in prison after attacking Mr Durey at his home.

Edwards and a third unknown thug attacked Mr Durey with their fists and the hilt of a samurai sword, and threatened him with a knife.

Mayers struck Mr Durey’s partner on the head with a stone and later in the assault, which lasted several minutes, she took up a kettle and beat Mr Durey repeatedly around the head.

Sentencing the pair Judge Samuel Wiggs said the photographs taken of Mr Durey showed “some of the worst scenes of bloody violence I have ever been shown in court.”