An alcoholic found dead at a bus stop had one of the highest blood alcohol levels a coroner had ever seen, an inquest was told.

Henry Duggan, 63, was found lying on the pavement outside South Wimbledon Underground station in the early hours of June 15, his face covered in blood.

Medical experts said he probably suffered heart failure before hitting his head on the ground after a bout of heaving drinking.

At an inquest into his death at Westminster Coroners’ Court last week, coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe described the level of alcohol in his body - 438mg per 100ml of blood, more than five times the drink drive limit of 80mg - as “huge”.

She said: “It is up there with the highest I have ever seen.”

Mr Duggan, of Deansbrook Road, Edgware, was a former carpenter whose life became dominated by alcohol addiction.

The court was told he had been arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour on many occasions, and had been treated for alcohol abuse at hospitals and clinics across London.

He made frequent attempts to give up drinking but always relapsed.

Pathologist Dr Peter Wilkins, who conducted a post-mortem examination on Mr Duggan, said he died from heart failure as a result of heart disease along with alcohol intoxication.

The doctor explained Mr Duggan’s heavy drinking, along with a number of other health problems, had probably contributed to his death.

Passersby discovered his body on Merton High Street at 2.45am. An empty bottle of whiskey and two bottles of cider were found nearby.

Paramedics used drugs and oxygen to try and revive Mr Duggan, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dr Radcliffe recorded a death from natural causes.