Tragedy of dad, 27, hooked on pills from Counterfeit Street

A YOUNG dad whose life spiralled following a break-up died after becoming 'addicted' to drugs bought on Manchester's 'Counterfeit Street.

- STEPHEN TOPPING

Junior Collins, 27, was found unresponsive in his Salford flat by his older brother Scott the morning after being 'absolutely off his head' on tablets he bought the same day.

Bolton Coroners Court heard that Scottish-born Mr Collins, who had 'not had a good start to life' and lived with paranoid personality disorder, regularly took drugs he believed to be pregabalin.

Battling tears throughout the inquest, his former long-term partner Danielle Thorpe said her ex had 'got so addicted to that high of being out of it' in the months before he died on April 19. She told the court she had a 'regular argument' with her ex-boyfriend about his substance use insisting he was 'not in any fit state' to see his son, Calvin.

Miss Thorpe said she called Mr Collins every day and in the last conversation she had with him, two days before he found dead, he had admitted recently taking drugs again.