A MAN from Thatcham died under unexplained circumstances, an inquest has heard.

Christopher George Delahunty, 45, of Tyne Way, was found dead at his home on January 2 after friends had not seen or heard from him for several days.

An inquest into his death, held at Reading Town Hall on Monday, July 16, heard how Mr Delahunty was a doorman at a public house in Newbury.

He was a bodybuilder and enjoyed working out with his friend, identified only as Dave, who alerted police after not hearing from Mr Delahunty.

Officers attended his address, and after receiving no reply, forced entry to the property. They found Mr Delahunty's lifeless body lying across a bed.

A post-mortem revealed no underlying health issues, and no catastrophic event which could have caused Mr Delahunty's death.

A toxicology report, undertaken by Dr Rebecca Andrews at Imperial College, revealed traces of anabolic steroids in Mr Delahunty's system. A sample was sent to a specialist laboratory in France, which determined the drug to be nandrolone, but could not say when Mr Delahunty took the drug, or how much.

The Chief Coroner for Berkshire, Mr Peter Bedford, told Mr Delahunty's family that not enough research had been done into steroids to be able to give them any definitive answers.

He said: "I'm afraid we just do not know what effects this drug has on the body, or what a fatal dose would be.

"I would love to be able to give you a more specific conclusion than an open verdict, but sometimes that is not possible."