The Hollyoaks actor and reality TV star Paul Danan died at his Bristol home from a cocktail of drugs including cocaine and heroin, an inquest opening has been told.
Danan, 46, played Sol Patrick from 1997 to 2001 on the Channel 4 soap and was later known for his reality TV appearances, including on Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Love Island.
An inquest into Danan’s death was opened and adjourned before Maria Voisin, the senior coroner for Avon, at Avon coroner’s court in Bristol on Tuesday morning.
The coroner’s officer Alexis Camp told the hearing that Danan was pronounced dead at his home in Brislington, Bristol, at 5.20pm on 15 January. His body was identified at the scene by his partner, Melissa Crooks. Camp said: “The circumstances are that Mr Danan was found unresponsive at his home address. Emergency services attended and confirmed he had sadly died. A postmortem has taken place and samples have been removed for further analysis.”
The court heard that the provisional cause of Danan’s death was combined toxicity of heroin, methadone, codeine, pregabalin, cocaine and zopiclone, contributed to by benzodiazepine use.
Camp added: “I understand there are no family concerns.”
Statements will be taken from Danan’s GP, family, police and the ambulance service, while inquiries are continuing with Avon and Wiltshire mental health partnership NHS trust, she said.
The coroner set a provisional date of 28 May for Danan’s full inquest hearing.
Danan had been due to appear for a plea hearing at Warrington magistrates court on 16 January after he was charged with possession of cocaine and cannabis, according to court documents. He was also accused of driving while under the influence of drugs on 2 October last year in Warrington, Cheshire.
Danan had been open about his struggles with addiction, including entering rehab and trying to recover.
