The 39-year-old son of Formula One boss Max Mosley died of drug abuse, a coroner has ruled. Alexander Mosley was found dead at his home in Notting Hill on May 5, 2009. The restaurateur had been using hard drugs for many years, sources say. The Coroner’s Court heard he had been using heroin and crack cocaine, and had recently been treated for depression.

Alexander started using drugs to cope with his shyness and admitted to his parents in 1994 that he had been using heroin. Mosley’s friend and personal assistant told the court that he had been using heroin and crack cocaine and that he would often go missing for days at a time. His cleaner found him slumped at his desk wearing boxer shorts and surrounded by drug paraphernalia. She said there was blood around his mouth and what appeared to be drugs on his desk.

Mosley, who co-founded the Hereford Road Restaurant, suffered from depression as well as a long-term addiction to heroin and cocaine, according to doctor’s reports. His urine tested positive for cocaine, ketamine, MDMA (Ecstasy), and heroin or morphine. The definite cause of death was not found but there were puncture-type wounds were found around his elbows and groin.

The coroner said that around his desk were crack pipes, syringes, needles, powders, and other paraphernalia. “This is a tragedy for a man who, in so many respects, had so much potential. Unfortunately his propensity to return to taking drugs has caused him his death at the age of only 39.”