A 44-year-old man who was found outside a tent in February died as a result of alcohol poisoning, a coroner has concluded.

Henrik Conrad Bartlomiej was found outside the tent he slept in next to the Sainsbury’s car park in Watford town centre on February 28 this year.

Mr Bartlomiej, who was a rough sleeper, was found outside a tent at 8.20am by a friend who called the police and paramedics, an inquest at The Old Courthouse, in Hatfield, heard on Wednesday.

A friend told police officers she saw Henrik at around midnight and he appeared in a “drunken state” but this was not unusual.

Polish-born Mr Bartlomiej, whose occupation was registered as an engineer, was officially pronounced dead at 8.33am. Police treated the death as non-suspicious.

A very high reading of alcohol was found in Mr Bartlomiej’s blood and urine.

A senior paramedic from Watford General Hospital said there were no signs of any bruises or injury but when they arrived there were “no signs of life”.

Mr Bartlomiej was registered at Health Inclusion Matters, a doctor’s surgery in Cassio Road that works with homeless people. He was thought to have been regularly referred to Watford General Hospital.

He was also known to Watford-based homelessness charity New Hope.

Chief executive of New Hope, Matthew Heasman, said: “We were shocked and saddened to learn of Bart’s death, he is missed dearly by both service users and staff. It’s devastating for someone to lose their life so young because of rough sleeping. New Hope were able to provide extra accommodation during the cold temperatures thanks to funding from local councils. New Hope’s Rough Sleeping Prevention Service and Intervention Team work all year round seeking to prevent street homelessness and sofa surfing. If a member of the public is concerned about someone sleeping rough, I would ask them to please contact New Hope on our 24/7 emergency helpline 0300 012 0168."

Marc Brownstein, who regularly goes out in towns such as Watford and Borehamwood to hand out donations to homeless people, said he remembers meeting Mr Bartlomiej and described him as a “good guy” adding “I’m sorry for the family and this is why we do the work we do to stop this happening”.

Coroner Geoffrey Sullivan concluded the cause of death was acute alcohol toxicity.

He said: “it was not unusual for Mr Bartlomiej to be drunk and that he was a heavy drinker” and that he was satisfied that Mr Bartlomiej died from an “alcohol-related death”.