THE family of a man found dying in a staircase at Oxford’s Westgate car park said his death had been “a waste of life”.

Peter Rous, 37, was found by a security guard slumped in a staircase on November 5 last year and pronounced dead in hospital shortly afterwards, an inquest heard yesterday.

A verdict of death from drug and alcohol misuse was recorded.

The Oxford inquest heard security guard Dave Trendell spotted Mr Rous on his rounds at 8.30pm.

Mr Trendell said in a statement read to the court that he could feel a pulse, and dialled 999.

Mr Rous was taken to hospital but pronounced dead after 55 minutes of efforts to resuscitate him.

Results from his post mortem showed he had morphine, alcohol and cocaine in his system.

Mr Rous, who was Oxford born, was most recently living in Simon House, the hostel for the homeless in Paradise Street.

Speaking after the inquest his sister Karen said: “It is just a total waste of life. Peter was the most bubbly man you could meet, he was loved by a lot of people and he loved everybody.

“Before all this, he was a hard worker.”