An ex-barman jailed for killing a French tourist in a drink-drive crash died from a cocktail of drugs and drink less than four months after being freed from prison, an inquest heard today.

Trevor William Taylor, 37, was found by his partner lying on the kitchen floor of their east Belfast house at 7am on a Saturday in January after a night spent binge drinking with friends.

A drinking pal was having a fit on the floor nearby and another was "incoherent" in the living room, she said.

A post mortem showed Taylor died after snorting a mixture of ecstasy and cocaine and drinking alcohol - he was almost three times the legal drink-drive limit.

In September last year Taylor was released from prison after serving half of a six year sentence imposed in 2004 for causing the death by drink driving of Mrs Laurence Rossel Perez and injuring her husband Jean.

He was five times over the limit when he smashed his Volvo into their car parked outside a guesthouse on Belfast's Ravenhill Road in 2002 with such force that both vehicles careered up the road and across the carriageway.

The Belfast inquest was told by deputy State Pathologist Dr Alaistair Bentley that the amount of ecstasy in the blood was within the fatal range and was coupled with a recreational amount of cocaine and a considerable amount of alcohol which would enhance the effect of the drugs.

Joanne McMechan, Taylor's partner and mother of his children aged 15 and five, said he had been out drinking with friends from Friday afternoon until he arrived home with them at around midnight.

She said she sat in the kitchen with them until 3.00am drinking a 'carryout' of beer and vodka before going to bed.

Ms McMechan said she was woken up at around 7am by the sound of banging from downstairs and went to investigate.

"Raymond Barry was lying on the floor fitting and Trevor was lying face-down, he was not moving. Jackie Holmes was sitting in the living room making funny noises," she said.

She said she asked him what they had taken. "He was incoherent, but he said they had done 'a few lines of coke'."

When she challenged him he added they had taken "some E's".

She said she had never known her partner to take drugs other than the odd draw of cannabis. "He was totally against drugs".

The emergency services were called but Mr Taylor was declared dead at the scene.

Jackie Holmes told the inquest that the night has started off as normal when he and Trevor Taylor were together. "Where Trevor and I are concerned it was binge drinking - so much so that you have no memory of the night".

However he said he could recall powder being taken. "It was produced at some stage after Joanne went to bed".

He added: "I was in hospital for 24 hours under observation due to the rate of my heart and I was told I was very lucky."

Mr Barry was called as a witness but failed to attend - the inquest was told he might be in Liverpool. Coroner Brian Sherrard said he would write to him questioning why he should not be held in contempt of court.

PSNI Detective Constable Fiona Mullan told the inquest when the kitchen of the house at Shimna Close in Castlereagh was examined seven full or empty plastic bags were seized.

When tested powder in them proved to be MDA (ecstasy) with a small amount of cocaine mixed in.

The drug was also found on a rolled up £10 note found in Taylor's pocket.

Recording Mr Taylor died from a mixture of MDA, cocaine and alcohol, Coroner Brian Sherrard issued a sharp warning about the dangers of taking illegal drugs.

He said: "This case alerts us to the extreme care people need to take when they become involved with any type of illicit drug.

"When any one of us takes drugs we do so at our own risk. Buying drugs off the street is not like buying from the chemists - nobody knows what they are taking."