A DAD-to-be fell three storeys out of his Kendal flat after taking cocaine, an inquest heard. 

27-year-old Jacob Lewis Johnson died at Royal Preston Hospital on April 9 from severe head injuries.

Toxicology confirmed that there was cocaine in his system at the time of death. 

Mr Johnson, known as Jake, lived at Victoria Apartments on Longpool.

The former Queen Katherine School student and plasterer had been diagnosed with ADHD and borderline personality disorder when he was 25, the court heard. He lived with his grandparents from when his family moved to Kendal in the late 90s.

His grandmother Edith Johnson submitted evidence to Cumbria Coroner's Court in Cockermouth seen by coroner Dr Nicholas Shaw on January 10.

She said: "He was such a good lad when he was happy."

He lived with his grandparents until 2013 and then lived with a long-term partner until they split up in 2020. 

He had records relating to his mental health dating back to 2021. Dr Shaw mostly only read out evidence in the months preceding his death but the court heard that a previous assessment by practitioners had found no underlying psychosis. Dr Shaw said that this suggests his behaviour before his death was from drug misuse. 

He lived in Barrow for some time before being transferred to a crisis house in Whitehaven in late 2022 after attempting to take his life through a heroin overdose, the court heard. 

After hearing evidence from Recovery Steps Cumbria, the provider for Mr Johnson's drug counselling sessions, Dr Shaw reflected: "After January he missed all his appointments, but he was doing quite well and engaging with the service in December and January."

During this period, he was employed, and he found out his partner Lisa Simmonds was pregnant. The counsellors said: "Jacob reported he had managed to remain free from substances since Christmas. He felt physically and mentally well." 

However when Mr Johnson missed more than three appointments, he had to be discharged from Recovery Step. He was in touch with other mental health professionals until April 5. 

On April 8, the court heard that Mr Johnson rang his grandmother in a state of distress at 3am. Mrs Johnson said: "He phoned me, I could tell he was paranoid, he thought someone was following him. Jacob was asking me to go round his flat to be with him." However, Mrs Johnson was unable to due to a recent surgery. 

The police thought that he was suffering Acute Behavioural Disturbance when they arrived at his flat. PC Jessica Hawkins said: "Jacob was telling us to move away from the window as there was a laser and somebody was going to shoot him." He admitted to officers he had done three and a half grams of cocaine. 

After being restrained and later sedated, Mr Johnson spent the night at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. The next morning, he said he could stay at his grandmother's house after recovering from the effects of the drugs and the tranquiliser.

His mother Hannah Slater interrupted the court session to ask about the hospital staff's decision to allow him to do this but Dr Shaw ultimately did not rule this as a contributing factor to his death, calling it a 'reasonable decision.' Mr Johnson never went to his grandmother's house after being discharged. 

Mr Johnson phoned the police around 24 hours after the first incident, again in distress. Seconds after they arrived at the front of Victoria Apartments, he slipped out of his window.

Dr Shaw confirmed that he had slipped rather than jumped after viewing body cam footage.

The police found drug paraphernalia on the ledge outside his kitchen window when they entered his flat. 

"I have to say, his overriding issue was with drugs, particularly cocaine," Dr Shaw said in his concluding statements. "In terms of saying why and how Jacob has died, I have to be fairly brutally honest. It is because he had been under the influence of cocaine."

Dr Shaw added Acute Behavioural Disturbance as a result of cocaine misuse to his medical cause of death. The rest of the cause of death was in line with the post-mortem assessment of traumatic brain injury from a fall from height, ADHD, Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, anxiety and drug misuse. 

The court heard that Ms Simmonds had their baby in August.