A FACTORY worker who died of brain disease as a result of AIDS was a former intravenous drug user, an inquest heard.

Assistant Dorset coroner Brendan Allen said Catalin Goia's illness was caused by injecting drugs and concluded his was a drugs-related death.

The Bournemouth inquest heard the 38-year-old was diagnosed with HIV when he was admitted to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital in May this year.

He had been suffering from dizziness, vertigo, swallowing difficulties and nausea.

He was transferred to the Macmillan Unit in Christchurch for palliative care on June 19 and died there 11 days later.

Mr Goia was born in Bucharest in Romania and a statement from his family revealed he had problems with drugs between 2004 and 2010.

He moved to the UK in 2017, living in Salisbury and Poole, before moving to Bourne Pines in Christchurch Road, Bournemouth.

The official cause of Mr Goia's death was recorded as Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy, as a result of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).