An ex-convict was discovered dead a matter of months after release from prison, an inquest has heard.

Bryan Gregory came to the end of a 10-year sentence at the start of last year but died on August 18.

An inquest at Rochdale Coroner’s Court this week heard how Mr Gregory, 63, was discovered dead at his address in Oldham by some friends with whom he was drinking on the same day.

These friends left for an off licence at around 9.30pm but returned at 10pm to find him unresponsive.

The paramedics were not able to save Mr Gregory, and a later postmortem suggested the cause of death was a combination of alcohol and the medication which he took for a number of health issues.

A police investigation suggested there were no suspicious circumstances.

Chief Inspector Ian Partington told coroner Julie Mitchell: “There was nothing to suggest anything untoward took place.”

Lynn Ferguson, Mr Gregory’s sister, was concerned about the role of the NHS and of the probation service, in particular as a result of two attendances to A&E for overdoses in the time up to August 18.

Although she was not close to Mr Gregory and spoke to him on the phone or on WhatsApp, she said she did not think he wanted to end his life, a suggestion with which Chief Inspector Partington agreed.

She said: “I think he was drunk. He didn’t remember if he had taken his pills or not and took another lot. I don’t think he wanted to end his life."

She added: “I think if he had been recalled [to prison] he would have been monitored.

“He wouldn’t have been able to drink so much and he would have been in a safe place.

“I think they should have sectioned him when he took the overdose.”

But representatives from the NHS and from the probation service stood by their approach to Mr Gregory and said they acted on the information available to them at the time.

The inquest at Rochdale Coroner’s Court continues today.