A HEROIN addict was dead within three days of coming in York - because the drug was so easy to come by on the city's streets.

York Coroner Donald Coverdale spoke of the dangers of heroin which the Evening Press revealed is available for as little as £5 after an inquest heard how a 25-year-old man died at a bail hostel earlier this year.

He said that young people should take Paul Dent's death as a warning not to try heroin, even though it was cheaper than 'soft' drugs like cannabis.

"Paul Dent was a stranger to York," said Mr Coverdale.

"But he had no problem acquiring heroin within a short period of time, leading to an unnecessary and premature death."

"In the local paper, the Evening Press, it has been said that heroin is cheaper than soft drugs and very widely available. This is a very worrying thing," he said.

It was also revealed during the hearing at York County Court that at the South View Bail Hostel on Boroughbridge Road, where Paul was staying at the time of his death, drug addicts accounted for 70 per cent of residents.

Paul, who was born in the north-east but lived in Scarborough for two years, was sent to the York hostel from the Wolds Prison where he was on remand on March 30 this year.

He was found dead, face down on his bed in his bed, on April 3.

The manager of the hostel at the time was Neil Lomas, who now works elsewhere in the Probation Service.

He told the inquest that staff had noticed that Paul looked as if he was over-medicated in the days before his death.

It was said that other inmates had also expressed concern for his welfare.

Mr Lomas said that many of the residents had drug problems, but searching their rooms was not always the answer as many kept stashes of heroin elsewhere, particularly by the River Ouse.

But Mr Dent's father, also called Paul, was angry at the way his son was cared for in the hostel.

He asked Mr Lomas: "Why wasn't Paul's room searched? If people were concerned that he was over-medicated, why was nothing done?"

After the inquest he told the Evening Press: "The hostel has let down my son.

"Heroin is a terrible thing. Two of my nephews are also on it it is too cheap, and too easy to get hold of."

Beverley Corney, manager at the hostel, said procedures had changed since Paul Dent's death.

"There are no drugs or alcohol allowed," she said.

"We do room searches, but most of our residents are unconvicted and we treat them as such. We have to find a balance between security and safety."

Mr Dent's cause of death was an overdose of heroin, methadone and diazepam, and a verdict of death by dependence on drugs was recorded.

Updated: 08:43 Friday, August 31, 2001